The many faces and functions of β‐catenin
Open accessAbstract
β-Catenin (Armadillo in Drosophila) is a multitasking and evolutionary conserved molecule that in metazoans exerts a crucial role in a multitude of developmental and homeostatic processes. More specifically, β-catenin is an integral structural component of cadherin-based adherens junctions, and the key nuclear effector of canonical Wnt signalling in the nucleus. Imbalance in the structural and signalling properties of β-catenin often results in disease and deregulated growth connected to cancer and metastasis. Intense research into the life of β-catenin has revealed a complex picture. Here, we try to capture the state of the art: we try to summarize and make some sense of the processes that regulate β-catenin, as well as the plethora of β-catenin binding partners. One focus will be the interaction of β-catenin with different transcription factors and the potential implications of these interactions for direct cross-talk between β-catenin and non-Wnt signalling pathways.
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Wnt/β-catenin signaling supports BBB integrity through junctional stabilization and transcriptional regulation and limits immune infiltration.
“ApoE, identified as an upstream regulator in PSEN1E280A ‐APOE3Ch vesicles, may indicate that vesicular ApoE3Ch modulates intracellular signaling pathways, including the activation of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling, 8 which supports BBB integrity through junctional stabilization and transcriptional regulation 76 and limits immune infiltration. 67”
From Plasma extracellular vesicles from <i>APOE3</i> Christchurch carriers display a protective phenotype in early stages of autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease (2026) · cites this paper as [76]
In “β-Catenin at the membrane: balancing adhesion and signalling” (page unavailable), the paper describes β-catenin’s roles in cell-cell junctions and Wnt-target gene transcription. It does not connect those roles to blood–brain barrier integrity, so the BBB-specific claim is unsupported. The separate claim about immune infiltration carries citation 67, not the citation to this paper. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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- Authors
- Valenta, T., Hausmann, G., & Basler, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Basler, Konrad
- Venue
- The EMBO Journal
- Published
- 2012-05-22
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2714-2736
- ISSN
- 0261-4189 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2075
- PMC
- PMC3380220
- OpenAlex
- W2144796426
- Cited by
- 1,598
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 69 · 2025: 114 · 2024: 163 · 2023: 159 · 2022: 127 · 2021: 173 · 2020: 130 · 2019: 112 · 2018: 103 · 2017: 92 · 2016: 84 · 2015: 91 · 2014: 89 · 2013: 79 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 7.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The EMBO Journal (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancer
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Signaling Pathways in Disease
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Hippo pathway signaling and YAP/TAZ
- Keywords
- β-catenin, armadillos, adherens junctions, cadherins, Wnt/β-catenin signaling, transcription factors, cancer, metastasis, developmental processes
- MeSH terms
- Cell Adhesion, Gene Expression Regulation, beta Catenin, Eukaryota, Wnt Signaling Pathway
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