Relevance of Wnt10b and activation of β‐catenin/GCMa/syncytin‐1 pathway in BeWo cell fusion

To study the involvement of specific Wnt(s) ligand during trophoblastic BeWo cell differentiation.BeWo cells on treatment with forskolin/human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) were studied for cell fusion by desmoplakin I+II staining and/or hCG secretion by ELISA. Levels of Wnt10b/β-catenin/glial cell missing a (GCMa)/syncytin-1 were studied by qPCR/Western blotting in forskolin-/hCG-treated control siRNA and Wnt10b silenced BeWo cells.BeWo cells on treatment with hCG (5 IU/mL) led to a 94-fold increase in Wnt10b transcript. Wnt10b silencing showed significant decrease in forskolin-/hCG-mediated BeWo cell fusion and/or hCG secretion. It led to down-regulation of β-catenin (nuclear and cytoplasmic), GCMa and syncytin-1 expression. Treatment of BeWo cells with H89, protein kinase A (PKA) signaling inhibitor, significantly reduced forskolin-/hCG-induced Wnt10b, β-catenin, and syncytin-1 expression, which also resulted in reduced cell fusion.Wnt10b is involved in forskolin/hCG-mediated BeWo cell fusion via β-catenin/GCMa/syncytin pathway, which may also involve activation of PKA.