Wnt / beta-catenin signaling for gastric fundus specification

Despite the gastric illness are common, there are few models for studying the fundus epithelium of human stomach. Dr. McCracken and colleagues had successfully induced differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into gastric organoids containing fundic epithelium. The authors further found that disruption of Wnt/β-Catenin signaling affects mouse embryonic fundus development, whereas activation of Wnt/β-Catenin signaling promotes the development of human fundic-type gastric organoids.

This is the first article to report a protocol to grow gastric organoids containing fundic epithelium, the main part of the stomach, in vitro from human embryonic stem cells. The gastric organs are not only a good model to study human gastric physiology and pathophysiology but also a new platform for drug discovery.

Wnt/β-Catenin signaling is the major focus of this article.  arigo offers quality antibodies to accelerate related study.

Wnt/β-Catenin signaling

Gastric lineage markers

Reference: McCracken et al., (2017) Nature. 541(7636):182-187.