INTRODUCTION The aim of our study was to determine whether beta-catenin, a subunit of the cadherin protein complex in the podocyte cytoskeleton, would be altered by hyperglycemia and advanced glycation endproducts (AGE) in glomerular epithelial cells and podocytes in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS Rat glomerular epithelial cells and mouse podocytes on bovine serum albumin-coated or AGE-coated p...

beta-Catenin is an important regulator of cell-cell adhesion and embryonic development that associates with and regulates the function of the LEF/TCF family of transcription factors. Mutations of beta-catenin and the tumor suppressor gene, adenomatous polyposis coli, occur in human cancers, but it is not known if, and by what mechanism, increased beta-catenin causes cellular transformation. Thi...

The cadherin-catenin complex is important for mediating homotypic, calcium-dependent cell-cell interactions in diverse tissue types. Although proteins of this complex have been identified, little is known about their interactions. Using a genetic assay in yeast and an in vitro protein-binding assay, we demonstrate that beta-catenin is the linker protein between E-cadherin and alpha-catenin and ...

In Xenopus, two signaling systems, maternal beta-Catenin and Nodal-related, are required for induction of the Spemann organizer and establishment of the body plan. By screening cDNA macroarrays for genes activated by these two signaling pathways, we identified Xenopus xBtg-x, a novel member of the Btg/Tob gene family of antiproliferative proteins. We show that xBtg-x is expressed in the dorsal ...

Loss of normal beta-catenin expression and the beta-catenin gene mutations have been shown to contribute to the malignant character of various cancers. Using PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism and DNA direct sequencing, we examined the presence of genetic alterations within the third exon of beta-catenin, which are frequently observed in other tumors, in transitional cell cancer (TCC) ...

The multi-protein beta-catenin destruction complex tightly regulates beta-catenin protein levels by shuttling beta-catenin to the proteasome. Glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta), a key serine/threonine kinase in the destruction complex, is responsible for several phosphorylation events that mark beta-catenin for ubiquitination and subsequent degradation. Because modulation of both beta-ca...

Beta-catenin plays an important role in the regulation of vascular endothelial cell-cell adhesions and barrier function by linking the VE-cadherin junction complex to the cytoskeleton. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of beta-catenin and VE-cadherin interactions on endothelial permeability during inflammatory stimulation by histamine. We first assessed the ability of a beta-...

Dysregulation of beta-catenin levels and localization and constitutive activation of beta-catenin/TCF (T cell factor)-regulated gene expression occur in many cancers, including the majority of colorectal carcinomas and a subset of ovarian endometrioid adenocarcinomas. Based on the results of microarray-based gene expression profiling we found the insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) gene as one ...

Wnt signaling controls important aspects of animal development, and its deregulation has been causally linked to cancer. Transduction of Wnt signals entails the association of beta-catenin with nuclear TCF DNA binding proteins and the subsequent activation of target genes. The transcriptional activity of Armadillo (Arm, the Drosophila beta-catenin homolog) largely depends on two recently discov...

To assess whether Smad signaling affects skin development, we generated transgenic mice in which a Smad antagonist, Smad7, was induced in keratinocytes, including epidermal stem cells. Smad7 transgene induction perturbed hair follicle morphogenesis and differentiation, but accelerated sebaceous gland morphogenesis. Further analysis revealed that independent of its role in anti-Smad signaling, S...