β-catenin signaling and cancer

✍ Scribed by Patrice J. Morin

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 144 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0265-9247
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1521-1878(199912)22:1<1021::aid-bies6>3.0.co;2-p

✦ Synopsis

Since its discovery as a protein associated with the cytoplasmic region of E-cadherin, ␤-catenin has been shown to perform two apparently unrelated functions: it has a crucial role in cell-cell adhesion in addition to a signaling role as a component of the Wnt/wg pathway. Wnt/wg signaling results in ␤-catenin accumulation and transcriptional activation of specific target genes during development. It is now apparent that deregulation of ␤-catenin signaling is an important event in the genesis of a number of malignancies, such as colon cancer, melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, medulloblastoma pilomatricomas, and prostate cancer. ␤-catenin mutations appear to be a crucial step in the progression of a subset of these cancers, suggesting an important role in the control of cellular proliferation or cell death. The APC/␤catenin pathway is highly regulated and includes players such as GSK3-␤, CBP, Groucho, Axin, Conductin, and TCF. c-MYC and cyclin D1 were recently identified as a key transcriptional targets of this pathway and additional targets are likely to emerge.