Dorsal-ventral axis formation is one of the earliest and the most important steps of patterning formation during early embryogenesis.The molecular basis of dorsoventral axis formation reflects the fundamental issues of orchestrated cell proliferation and differentiation.Wildly speculated since the Renaissance,the effort of deciphering the mechanisms of dorsal-ventral axis formation has contributed significantly to our current understanding of disease pathogenesis.Here,we focused our discussion on the recent discovery of the convergence of dorsal and ventral signaling pathways during early embryogenesis and its implications in cancer biology and beyond.