The emerging role of receptor trafficking in signalosome formation and sustained long-term Wnt/ β -catenin signaling

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Abstract
Despite its central role in development, cell homeostasis, and cancer, the mechanisms that govern canonical Wnt signaling, particularly how receptor internalization and membrane organization shape signalosome formation and downstream pathway activation, remain a topic of ongoing debate. To resolve this longstanding controversy, we developed a mechanistic model that integrates seemingly contradictory experimental observations into a coherent explanatory framework. Using an optimized multi-level rule-based modeling approach the model explicitly captures lateral membrane organization, receptor complex dynamics, endocytic routing and downstream signaling. Simulations reveal a previously unrecognized compensatory mechanism in which rapid recycling of partially immobilized receptor assemblies amplifies and stabilizes signalosome formation. The results further indicate that internalization and recycling are essential for stable long-term β -catenin activation, offering an explanation why these processes are required for excessive signaling in cancer cells. The model further predicts that ordered membrane domains enhance signaling not merely by colocalizing receptors and DVL but by increasing effective residence time through rebinding-driven cluster stabilization. Integrating diverse experimental measurements into a unified simulation framework quantitatively reconciles conflicting experimental reports on the necessity of receptor internalization for pathway activation. By resolving these debates and providing falsifiable predictions for how trafficking and membrane organization jointly tune pathway output, the study offers a mechanistic foundation for targeted modulation of Wnt signaling in developmental and disease contexts.
Funding Information
  • The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This work is in part supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1270/2 ELAINE 299150580

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