The Wnt signaling pathways are a group of signal transduction pathways made of proteins that pass signals into a cell through cell surface receptors. Three Wnt signaling pathways have been characterized: the canonical Wnt pathway, the noncanonical planar cell polarity pathway, and the noncanonical Wnt/calcium pathway. All three pathways are activated by binding a Wnt-protein ligand to a Frizzled family receptor, which passes the biological signal to the protein dishevelled inside the cell. The canonical Wnt pathway leads to regulation of gene transcription. The noncanonical planar cell polarity pathway regulates the cytoskeleton that is responsible for the shape of the cell. The noncanonical Wnt/calcium pathway regulates calcium inside the cell. Wnt signaling pathways use either nearby cell-cell communication (paracrine) or same-cell communication (autocrine). They are highly evolutionarily conserved in animals, which means they are similar across animal species from fruit flies to humans.[1][2]
Wnt signaling was first identified for its role in carcinogenesis, then for its function in embryonic development. The embryonic processes it controls include body axis patterning, cell fate specification, cell proliferation and cell migration. These processes are necessary for proper formation of important tissues including bone, heart and muscle. Its role in embryonic development was discovered when genetic mutations in Wnt pathway proteins produced abnormal fruit fly embryos. Wnt signaling also controls tissue regeneration in adult bone marrow, skin and intestine.[3] Later research found that the genes responsible for these abnormalities also influenced breast cancer development in mice.
This pathway's clinical importance was demonstrated by mutations that lead to various diseases, including breast and prostate cancer, glioblastoma, type II diabetes and others.[4][5(from Internet)
As far as I know, this is the first, promising, new line of medical therapy for osteoarthritis.
Obviously it appears there is a long way to go before we know for sure.
At least in my opinion I believe we are in the right direction to find a cure for the condition.
The stuff stimulates stem cells to produce new cartilage from what I can understand.