beta-Catenin is a multifunctional molecule with important roles in intercellular adhesion and signal transduction. We reported previously that beta-catenin is mutated in human prostate cancer. In this study, we investigated the role of beta-catenin mutations on androgen receptor (AR) signaling. beta-Catenin significantly enhanced androgen-stimulated transcriptional activation by the AR. beta-Ca...

ß-catenin is a key component of the Wnt signaling pathway and the abnormal accumulation of ß-catenin is characteristic of various types of cancer. Here we demonstrate that overexpression of Sox4 enhances ß-catenin/TCF activity by increasing the stability of ß-catenin. Sox4 increased the protein level of ß-catenin and its target gene cyclin D1 in a dose-dependent manner. An siRNA experiment for ...

Aberrant activation of β-catenin in the nucleus has been implicated in a variety of human cancers, but the fate of nuclear β-catenin is unknown. Here we demonstrate that the tripartite motif-containing protein 33 (TRIM33), acting as an E3 ubiquitin ligase, reduces the abundance of nuclear β-catenin protein. TRIM33-mediated β-catenin is destabilized and is GSK-3β or β-TrCP independent. TRIM33 in...

Cdx2 is an intestine-specific transcription factor known to regulate proliferation and differentiation. We have reported previously that Cdx2 limits the proliferation of human colon cancer cells by inhibiting the transcriptional activity of the beta-catenin-T-cell factor (TCF) bipartite complex. Herein we further elucidate this mechanism. Studies with a classic Cdx2 target gene and a canonical ...

Guo, Xin, Jaladanki N. Rao, Lan Liu, Mort Rizvi, Douglas J. Turner, and Jian-Ying Wang. Polyamines regulate -catenin tyrosine phosphorylation via Ca2 during intestinal epithelial cell migration. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 283: C722–C734, 2002. First published April 24, 2002; 10.1152/ajpcell.00054.2002.—Polyamines are essential for early mucosal restitution that occurs by epithelial cell migratio...

The cadherin-catenin adhesion complex is a key contributor to epithelial tissue stability and dynamic cell movements during development and tissue renewal. How this complex is regulated to accomplish these functions is not fully understood. We identified several phosphorylation sites in mammalian αE-catenin (also known as catenin α-1) and Drosophila α-Catenin within a flexible linker located be...

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling has been shown to promote self-renewal in a variety of tissue stem cells, including neuronal stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells. However, activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway promoted and inhibition of the pathway prevented differentiation of neuronal precursor cells. A clear explanation for the differential effects of Wnt/beta-catenin activation on neurona...

β-Catenin transduces the Wnt signaling pathway and its nuclear accumulation leads to gene transactivation and cancer. Rac1 GTPase is known to stimulate β-catenin-dependent transcription of Wnt target genes and we confirmed this activity. Here we tested the recent hypothesis that Rac1 augments Wnt signaling by enhancing β-catenin nuclear import; however, we found that silencing/inhibition or up-...

Key signalling pathways, such as canonical Wnt/β-catenin signalling, operate repeatedly to regulate tissue- and stage-specific transcriptional responses during development. Although recruitment of nuclear β-catenin to target genomic loci serves as the hallmark of canonical Wnt signalling, mechanisms controlling stage- or tissue-specific transcriptional responses remain elusive. Here, a direct c...

In epithelial cells, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-catenin are involved in linking the peripheral microfilament belt to the transmembrane protein E-cadherin. alpha-Catenin exhibits sequence homologies over three regions to vinculin, another adherens junction protein. While vinculin is found in cell-matrix and cell-cell contacts, alpha-catenin is restricted to the latter. To elucidate, whether vincul...