types of cancers, bone pathologies, retinal degeneration and hypophosphatemic diseases, indicating that their activity is fundamental for tissue homeostasis. Here we review some of the debated aspects of SFRP-Wnt interactions and discuss the new and emerging roles of SFRPs. Journal of Cell Science 738 were isolated either through sequence homology with Fz receptors (Rattner et al., 1997) or, independently of Wnt activity, through their involvement in apoptosis (Melkonyan et al., 1997), or their co-purification with the heparin-binding factor hepatocyte growth factor/scattered factor (Finch et al., 1997).Since their discovery, interest in this family of molecules has grown progressively, particularly because recent observations have offered a new perspective on their functions and mechanisms of action in both development and disease. These studies indicate that SFRPs are not merely Wnt-binding proteins but can also antagonise one another's activity (Yoshino et al., 2001), bind to Fz receptors (Bafico et al., 1999;Rodriguez et al., 2005) and provide axon-guidance information (Rodriguez et al., 2005). Moreover, they can interact with other receptors or matrix molecules (Chuman et al., 2004;Hausler et al., 2004; and interfere with BMP signalling (Lee, H. et al., 2006;Muraoka et al., 2006;Yabe et al., 2003) by acting as proteinase inhibitors (Lee, H. et al., 2006). Furthermore, their expression is altered in different types of cancers (Rubin et al., 2006), in bone pathologies , retinal degeneration (Jones et al., 2000) and hypophosphatemic diseases (Berndt and Kumar, 2007), which indicates that their activity is fundamental for tissue homeostasis. Reviews that centre on Wnt antagonism by SFRPs have recently been published elsewhere (Cadigan and Liu, 2006;Jones and Jomary, 2002;Kawano and Kypta, 2003); here, we discuss new aspects of SFRP activity, and review SFRP structure, expression and interactions with Wnt proteins. The family of SFRPsThe SFRP family comprises five members in humans, SFRP1 to SFRP5, in which SFRP3 is the orthologue of the founding member Frzb. Sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis show that SFRP1, SFRP2 and SFRP5 are closely related, and cluster together in a subgroup that diverges from the one formed by the related SFRP3 and SFRP4 (Fig. 1). This clustering also reflects a different genomic organisation. SFRP1, SFRP2 and SFRP5 are encoded by three exons on chromosome 8p12-p11.1, 4q31.3 and 10q24.1, respectively (Garcia-Hoyos et al., 2004), whereas SFRP3 and SFRP4 are both encoded by six exons -on chromosome 2q31-q33 and 7p14-p13, respectively. Orthologues of the five human genes have been found in all vertebrate species analysed so far ( Fig. 1). Notably, a third subgroup, apparently not present in mammals, has been identified in Xenopus, zebrafish and chick. The components of this subgroup, named Sizzled, Crescent and Tlc, share sequence similarities with the SFRP1-SFRP2-SFRP5 subgroup (Fig. 1), and are characterised by a very restricted and anterior expression in gastrulating embryos (B...

The bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) expression in vertebrates suggests a reiterative function of these molecules during eye development. However, genetic analysis in mice has provided only partial information. Using the chick embryo as a model system, we have analyzed possible additional functions of BMP4 during optic cup formation. Here we describe the expression pattern of Bmp4 and Bmp7 and we show that, in contrast to the mouse, the prospective lens placode ectoderm expresses high levels of Bmp4 but no Bmp7. After optic vesicle invagination, Bmp4 is expressed in the prospective dorsal neural retina, where BmprIA, BmprII, and Smad1, components of the BMP4 signal transduction pathway, are also expressed. In toto terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated UTP nick end-labeling analysis shows that the dorsal optic cup is the site of a spatiotemporally restricted apoptosis, which parallels the expression not only of Bmp4 but also of Msx1 and Msx2, genes implicated in BMP4-mediated apoptosis. The use of optic vesicle cultures as well as in ovo local addition of BMP4 and its antagonist Noggin proves that the local activity of BMP4 is responsible for programmed cell death in the dorsal optic cup. In addition, we show that Noggin is able to reduce the rate of cell proliferation in the dorsal part of the optic cup whereas BMP4 increases the number of BrdU-positive cells in retina cultures. These results provide evidence that BMP4 contributes to eye development by promoting cell proliferation and programmed cell death.