WISP1: Clinical Insights for a Proliferative and Restorative Member of the CCN Family

As a proliferative and restorative entity, Wnt1 inducible signaling pathway protein 1 (WISP1) is emerging as a novel target for a number of therapeutic strategies that are relevant for disorders such as traumatic injury, neurodegeneration, musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary compromise, and control of tumor growth as well as distant metastases. WISP1, a target of the wingless pathway Wnt1, oversees cellular mechanisms that include apoptosis, autophagy, cellular migration, stem cell proliferation, angiogenesis, immune cell modulation, and tumorigenesis. The signal transduction pathways of WISP1 are broad and involve phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI 3-K), protein kinase B (Akt), mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), caspases, forkhead transcription factors, sirtuins, c-myc, glycogen synthase kinase -3β (GSK-3β), β-catenin, miRNAs, and the mechanistic target of rapamaycin (mTOR). Ultimately, these signal transduction pathways of WISP1 can result in varied and sometimes unpredictable outcomes especially for cell survival, tissue repair, and tumorigenesis that demand increased insight into the critical role WISP1 holds for cellular biology and clinical medicine.