Both excessive and insufficient activation of WNT signalling results in cartilage breakdown and osteoarthritis. WNT16 is upregulated in the articular cartilage following injury and in osteoarthritis. Here, we investigate the function of WNT16 in osteoarthritis and the downstream molecular mechanisms.
Osteoarthritis was induced by destabilisation of the medial meniscus in wild-type and WNT16-deficient mice. Molecular mechanisms and downstream effects were studied in vitro and in vivo in primary cartilage progenitor cells and primary chondrocytes. The pathway downstream of WNT16 was studied in primary chondrocytes and using the axis duplication assay in Xenopus.
WNT16-deficient mice developed more severe osteoarthritis with reduced expression of lubricin and increased chondrocyte apoptosis. WNT16 supported the phenotype of cartilage superficial-zone progenitor cells and lubricin expression. Increased osteoarthritis in WNT16-deficient mice was associated with excessive activation of canonical WNT signalling. In vitro, high doses of WNT16 weakly activated canonical WNT signalling, but, in co-stimulation experiments, WNT16 reduced the capacity of WNT3a to activate the canonical WNT pathway. In vivo, WNT16 rescued the WNT8-induced primary axis duplication in Xenopus embryos.
In osteoarthritis, WNT16 maintains a balanced canonical WNT signalling and prevents detrimental excessive activation, thereby supporting the homeostasis of progenitor cells.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
4
3%
Immunology and Microbiology
4
3%
Other
12
9%
Unknown
35
27%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 August 2026.
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#8,896,407
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Outputs from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
#4,850
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Outputs of similar age
#99,928
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Outputs of similar age from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
#60
of 147 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 29,792,533 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 68th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 9,561 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.8. This one is in the 48th percentile – i.e., 48% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 147 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 59% of its contemporaries.
