Wnt5a: A promising therapeutic target in ovarian cancer

Despite the rapid development of novel adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapeutic drugs in recent years, advanced ovarian cancer still lacks effective treatment strategies and remains one of the main causes of death among women. Wnt protein family is widely expressed in a variety of human tissues, and Wnt5a is an important member of the noncanonical Wnt pathway. Wnt5a has been found to induce tumor suppression as well as to function as an oncogene depending upon the specific cancer type. In ovarian cancer, Wnt5a protein expression has been observed to be significantly upregulated and associated with poor prognosis. Researchers found that downregulating Wnt5a expression levels effectively suppresses ovarian cancer cell migration and invasion abilities. We believe that the downregulation of Wnt5a will be an attractive and promising antimetastatic therapeutic approach for the future treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The present review focuses on the mechanisms and therapeutic potential of Wnt5a as a promising novel therapeutic target for ovarian cancer.