Cited by 1,433Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancerProtein Kinase Regulation and GTPase SignalingSignaling Pathways in Disease

GSK3 takes centre stage more than 20 years after its discovery

Open access
FRAME, Sheelagh, COHEN, Philip·2001·Biochemical Journal

Abstract

Identified originally as a regulator of glycogen metabolism, glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) is now a well-established component of the Wnt signalling pathway, which is essential for setting up the entire body pattern during embryonic development. It may also play important roles in protein synthesis, cell proliferation, cell differentiation, microtubule dynamics and cell motility by phosphorylating initiation factors, components of the cell-division cycle, transcription factors and proteins involved in microtubule function and cell adhesion. Generation of the mouse knockout of GSK3β, as well as studies in neurons, also suggest an important role in apoptosis. The substrate specificity of GSK3 is unusual in that efficient phosphorylation of many of its substrates requires the presence of another phosphorylated residue optimally located four amino acids C-terminal to the site of GSK3 phosphorylation. Recent experiments, including the elucidation of its three-dimensional structure, have enhanced our understanding of the molecular basis for the unique substrate specificity of GSK3. Insulin and growth factors inhibit GSK3 by triggering its phosphorylation, turning the N-terminus into a pseudosubstrate inhibitor that competes for binding with the ‘priming phosphate’ of substrates. In contrast, Wnt proteins inhibit GSK3 in a completely different way, by disrupting a multiprotein complex comprising GSK3 and its substrates in the Wnt signalling pathway, which do not appear to require a ‘priming phosphate’. These latest findings have generated an enormous amount of interest in the development of drugs that inhibit GSK3 and which may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of diabetes, stroke and Alzheimer's disease.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1042/bj3590001

Cites

149 of 149 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Glycogen synthase is the key insulin-regulated enzyme controlling the rate of muscle glycogen synthesis.

    “Glycogen synthase is the key insulin-regulated enzyme that controls the rate of muscle glycogen synthesis [148, 150, 200, 212–214].”

    From Pathogenesis of insulin resistance in skeletal muscle (2010) · cites this paper as [213]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

2 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
FRAME, S., & COHEN, P.
Affiliations
University of Dundee (GB)
Corresponding author
  • FRAME, Sheelagh
  • COHEN, Philip
Venue
Biochemical Journal
Published
2001-09-24
Volume
359
Issue
1
Pages
1-16
ISSN
  • 0264-6021 (ISSN-L)
  • 1470-8728
OpenAlex
W1964631519
Cited by
1,433
References
149
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 43 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 75 · 2013: 83 · 2012: 86
FWCI
3.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Biochemical Journal (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Discovery Research Portal (University of Dundee) (submittedVersion)
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 › Protein Kinase Regulation and GTPase Signaling
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Signaling Pathways in Disease
Keywords
glycogen synthase kinase-3, GSK3β, Wnt signalling pathway, glycogen metabolism, substrate specificity, protein phosphorylation, apoptosis, growth factor inhibition, GSK-3 inhibitors, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes mellitus, stroke, embryonic development, microtubule dynamics, cell motility
MeSH terms
Animals, Humans, Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review