Figure 7.

Schematic summary of the hypoxia-mediated regulation of ciliogenesis in MSC. Hypoxic conditions trigger HIF-1α nuclear translocation which mediates transcriptional downregulation (−) of sFRP-1, -3, -4, and transcriptional upregulation (+) of sFRP-2. These molecular partners lead to inhibition of Wnt signaling and contribute to decreased ciliogenesis. Collectively, the primary cilium may be considered as a differentiation biomarker of cells that must adapt to low oxygen tension microenvironments. Such hypoxic conditions can be found within pathophysiological conditions such as those encountered in hypoxic tumour development, or in physiological regeneration of ischemic tissues.