Description
opment through localized inhibition of Wnt regulated processes, including anterior-posterior axial patterning, limb development, somitogenesis, and eye formation, DKKs have also been implicated post-developmentally in bone formation, bone disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. DKK proteins typically play an important regulatory role in the Wnt /beta-catenin signaling pathway by forming inhibitory complexes with LDL receptor-related proteins 5 and 6 (LRP5 and LRP6), which are essential components of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling system. LRP5 and LRP6 are single-pass transmembrane proteins that appear to act as co-receptors for Wnt ligands involved in the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling cascade. DKK-3 has been shown to potentiate, rather than inhibit, Wnt signaling through interactions with the high-affinity, transmembrane coreceptors Kremen-1 (Krm1) and Kremen-2 (Krm2). Recombinant human DKK-3 expressed in CHO cells is a glycoprotein that has a calculated molecular weight of 36.3 kDa and contains 329 amino acid residues. Due to glycosylation, human DKK-3 migrates at an apparent molecular weight of approximately 39-49 kDa by SDS-PAGE analysis under non-reducing conditions