Mutations in EMD, encoding emerin cause skeletal muscle and heart defects in patients with X-linked Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (X-EDMD) but the underlying mechanisms leading to cardiac defects are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the role of emerin in controlling cardiomyocyte proliferation and cardiac remodeling and explored its function in regulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathwa...

Somitic beta-catenin is involved in both maintaining a stem cell population and controlling myogenic differentiation. It is unclear how beta-catenin-dependent Wnt signaling accomplishes these disparate roles. The present study shows that only dorsal cells in the early somite respond to beta-catenin-dependent Wnt signaling and as the somites compartmentalize to form the dermomyotome and myotome,...

Somitic b-catenin is involved in both maintaining a stem cell population and controlling myogenic differentiation. It is unclear how b-catenin-dependent Wnt signaling accomplishes these disparate roles. The present study shows that only dorsal cells in the early somite respond to b-catenin-dependent Wnt signaling and as the somites compartmentalize to form the dermomyotome and myotome, respondi...

Signal propagation from the cell membrane to a promoter can induce gene expression. To examine signal transmission through sub-cellular compartments and its effect on transcription levels in individual cells within a population, we used the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway as a model system. Wnt signaling orchestrates a response through nuclear accumulation of β-catenin in the cell population. H...

β-catenin, a core component of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, has been shown to be an important regulator of cellular proliferation and differentiation. Abnormal activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling promotes tissue fibrogenesis. In the present study, the role of β-catenin during liver fibrogenesis was analyzed and the functional effects of β-catenin gene silencing in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) us...

Nuclear targeting of beta-catenin is an obligatory step in Wnt signal transduction, but the factors that control import and export remain to be clarified. In this issue, Hendriksen et al. (p. 785) show that the RanBP3 export factor antagonizes beta-catenin/T cell factor (TCF) transcription by targeting the signaling-competent form of beta-catenin. We speculate that cells may use multiple export...

The Wnt/beta-catenin pathway is involved in various cellular activities--including determination, proliferation, migration and differentiation--in embryonic development and adult homeostasis. The deregulation or constitutive activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway may lead to cancer formation. This review focuses on the role of the Wnt/beta-catenin canonical signaling pathway in the melanocy...

BACKGROUND It is generally accepted that chronic treatment with antidepressants increases hippocampal neurogenesis, but the molecular mechanisms underlying their effects are unknown. Recently, glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β)/β-catenin signaling was shown to be involved in the mechanism of how antidepressants might influence hippocampal neurogenesis. METHODS The aim of this study was ...

Citation: Webber HC, Bermudez JY, Millar JC, Mao W, Clark AF. The role of Wnt/b-catenin signaling and K-cadherin in the regulation of intraocular pressure. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2018;59:1454–1466. https://doi.org/ 10.1167/iovs.17-21964 PURPOSE. Wnt/b-catenin signaling in the trabecular meshwork (TM) is required for maintaining normal intraocular pressure (IOP), although the mechanism(s) be...