UNLABELLED Aberrant activation of the Wnt signaling pathway is an important step in the initiation and progression of tumor development in diverse cancers. The central effector of canonical Wnt signaling, β-catenin (CTNNB1), is a multifunctional protein, and has been extensively studied with respect to its roles in cell-cell adhesion and in regulation of Wnt-driven transcription. Here, a novel ...

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and pulmonary fibrogenesis require epithelial integrin α3β1-mediated cross-talk between TGFβ1 and Wnt signaling pathways. One hallmark of this cross-talk is pY654-β-catenin accumulation, but whether pY654-β-catenin is a biomarker of fibrogenesis or functionally important is unknown. To clarify further the role of β-catenin in fibrosis, we explored pY65...

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been proposed to be a mechanism in airway remodeling, which is a characteristic of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Studies have shown that cigarette smoke and nicotine are factors that induce Wnt/β-catenin activation, which is a pathway that has also been implicated in EMT. The main aim of this study was to test whether human bronchial e...

Metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1(MALAT1) is a long non-coding RNA, broadly expressed in mammalian tissues including kidney and up-regulated in a variety of cancer cells. To date, its functions in podocytes are largely unknown. β-catenin is a key mediator in the canonical and non-canonical Wnt signalling pathway; its aberrant expression promotes podocyte malfunction and alb...

catenin is a critical mediator of the Wnt canonical pathway for multiple cellular responses. Using transgenic mice, loss or activation of β-catenin has been studied in multiple tissues to elucidate its role in vivo. In this editorial, we focus on recent findings examining the involvement of β-catenin in cancer initiation and progression of epithelial tissues in thymus and prostate. β-catenin in...

The solitary fibrous tumors (SFT) are rare tumors in the head and neck region and there have been only 5 cases reported in the literature in the soft palate. The current paper presents a unique case of a 62-year-old male with TFS arising in the soft palate. The tumor was highly cellular, composed of bland looking haphazardly arranged spindle cells. The signal transducer and activator of transcr...

In the present study we explored the role of β-catenin in mediating chick retina regeneration. The chick can regenerate its retina by activating stem/progenitor cells present in the ciliary margin (CM) of the eye or via transdifferentiation of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE). Both modes require fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2). We observed, by immunohistochemistry, dynamic changes of nu...

β-Catenin phosphorylation plays important roles in modulating its functions, but the effects of different phosphorylated forms of β-catenin in response to heterocellular interaction are unclear. Here we investigated whether distinct modes of phosphorylation on β-catenin could be triggered through heterocellular interactions between endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs), and the...

Anaberrant Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is frequently implicated in tumorigenesis. However, whether the Wnt/β‑catenin pathway plays a role in resistance to antitumor chemotherapy drugs remains unknown. In the present study, the process of autophagy was assessed following overexpression of the autophagy‑associated gene Beclin 1 in gemcitabine‑induced MG63 human osteosarcoma cells. Autophagy‑a...