Fig. 6

WNTs signaling pathway regulated autophagy and EMT. The WNTs pathway consists of the classical pathway and nonclassical WNT pathway. The classical pathway (WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway) directly leads to HIF-1α activation, which in turn results in overexpression of SLUG, SNAIL, and TWIST and induction of EMT. The nonclassical WNT pathway mainly contains two WNT proteins, WNT5A and WNT11, which facilitate EMT by inducing p38 (Mapk14) phosphorylation. Dishevelled (Dvl) is a basic and central component of WNT signaling, and it plays an important role in both β-catenin–mediated canonical and β-catenin–independent noncanonical WNT signaling. Dvl expression and stability are negatively controlled by autophagy in the late stages of cancer development, which in turn inhibits the WNT process. On the other hand, autophagy can decrease the stability of TWIST1 protein and hinder EMT