dickkopf

Borrowed from German Dickkopf (“stubborn person”, literally “thick head”), from the fact that Dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1), one of the dickkopf proteins, was found to be required for head formation in embryos. The word was coined by Andrei Glinka, Wei Wu, Hajo Delius, A. Paula Monaghan, Claudia Blumenstock, and Christof Niehrs in a 1998 article published in Nature:[1] see the quotation.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪkˌkɒpf/

• Audio (Southern English)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪkˌkɑ(p)f/, /-ˌkɔ(p)f/
• Hyphenation: dick‧kopf

dickkopf (plural dickkopfs)

1. (biochemistry) Any of a family of glycoproteins that are involved in the development of the embryo. [from 1998]
   • [1998 January 22, Andrei Glinka et al., “Dickkopf-1 is a Member of a New Family of Secreted Proteins and Functions in Head Induction”, in Nature, volume 391, number 6665, London: Nature Research, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, abstract, page 357:

     Here we describe dickkopf-1 (dkk-1), which encodes Dkk-1, a secreted inducer of Spemann's organizer in Xenopus and a member of a new protein family.]

   • 2015 December 22, Kathryn L. McCabe et al., “Efficient Generation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-derived Corneal Endothelial Cells by Directed Differentiation”, in PLOS ONE, volume 10, number 12, San Francisco, Calif.: PLOS, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, article number e0145266:

     Some of the factors tested included: angiopoietin like protein 7 (ANGLPT7), epidermal growth factor (EGF), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGF β 2), platelet derived growth factor b (PDGFB), and dickkopf related protein 2 (DKK2).

   • 2016, Joseph G. Sinkovics, “Eukaryotic Single Cells and the First Cell Communities Then and Now”, in RNA/DNA and Cancer, Cham, Switzerland: Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, page 81:

     Oncogenic mutations in the human genome disable of the 'β-catenin-destroyer complex' and delete the dickkopfs.

• dickkopf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia