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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Mar 12.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Mol Med. 2013 Jan 9;19(3):144–156. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2012.12.001

Table 1. Wnt signaling in neuroimmune interactions.

Protein Source Role in the immune/neural systems Signaling Refs
Wnt1 Activated astrocytes (VM and
striatal); activated endothelial
cells;
hippocampal neurons (HNs)
Promotes survival and neuroprotection
of midbrain DA neurons;
rescues SVZ stem/progenitor cells; induces
extravasation of activated T cells;
promotes astrocyte–neuron and
astrocyte–microglia crosstalk;
protects HNs against inflammatory/oxidative
insult, in vivo/in vitro
Canonical/β-catenin [8,10,17,63,79,80]
Wnt2 Mouse macrophages ND Canonical/β-catenin [59]
Wnt2b Activated endothelial cells Promotes extravasation of activated T cells ND [63]
Wnt3a Activated macrophages;
neural stem/precursor cells;
hippocampus, HNs
Anti-inflammatory in macrophages; promotes
self-renewal, clonal expansion, and neurogenesis
of SVZ and SGZ stem/progenitor cells;
protects hippocampus, HNs, and adult hippocampal
stem/precursors (in vivo/in vitro)
Canonical/β-catenin [4,5,40,42,46,47,
51,53,71,73,86]
Wnt4 Activated endothelial cells Promotes extravasation of activated T cells Canonical/β-catenin [63]
Wnt5a Activated CD4+ T cells and
human macrophages; activated
endothelial cells, astrocytes,
and microglia
Stimulates chemokine-directed T cell migration;
inhibits DC differentiation;
tolerogenic on DCs; proinflammatory in
macrophages and microglia;
promotes autocrine endothelial inflammation;
promotes proinflammatory response in microglia
Non-canonical/β-catenin [9,18,40,58,60,
62-64]
Wnt7a ND Promotes self-renewal, clonal expansion, and
neurogenesis of SGZ stem/progenitor cells
TLX/catenin and Wnt–Ca2+ [46,48]
Wnt7b Mouse macrophages Promotes programmed cell death of vascular
endothelial cells and tissue healing
Wnt–Ca2+ [59,61]
Wnt8b Activated endothelial cells Promotes extravasation of activated T cells Canonical/β-catenin [63]
Wnt10b Mouse macrophages ND Canonical/β-catenin [59]