.g-Catenin, an important component of desmosomes, may also participate in Wnt signaling. Herein, we dissect the role of g-catenin in liver by generating conditional g-catenin knockout (KO) mice and assessing their phenotype after bile duct ligation (BDL) and diethylnitrosamine-induced chemical carcinogenesis. At baseline, KO and wild-type littermates showed comparable serum biochemistry, liver histology, and global gene expression. b-Catenin protein was modestly increased without any change in Wnt signaling. Desmosomes were maintained in KO, and despite no noticeable changes in gene expression, differential detergent fractionation revealed quantitative and qualitative changes in desmosomal cadherins, plaque proteins, and b-catenin. Enhanced association of b-catenin to desmoglein-2 and plakophilin-3 was observed in KO. When subjected to BDL, wild-type littermates showed specific changes in desmosomal protein expression. In KO, BDL deteriorated baseline compensatory changes, which manifested as enhanced injury and fibrosis. KO also showed enhanced tumorigenesis to diethylnitrosamine treatment because of Wnt activation, as also verified in vitro. g-Catenin overexpression in hepatoma cells increased its binding to T-cell factor 4 at the expense of b-catenineT-cell factor 4 association, induced unique target genes, affected Wnt targets, and reduced cell proliferation and viability. Thus, g-catenin loss in liver is basally well tolerated. However, after insults like BDL, these compensations at desmosomes fail, and KO show enhanced injury. Also, g-catenin negatively regulates tumor growth by affecting Wnt signaling. Plakoglobin or g-catenin belongs to the catenin family of proteins and is a component of desmosomes. Desmosomes are submembranous plaques that provide resistance to mechanical and shear stresses within a tissue and contribute to intercellular adhesion.1 Analogous to b-catenin at adherens junctions (AJs), g-catenin, like other desmosomal plaque proteins, such as desmoplakin (DP) and plakophilin (Pkp), adheres to neighboring cells by linking intracytoplasmic domains of transmembrane desmosomal cadherins like desmoglein (Dsg) and desmocollin (Dsc) to intermediate filaments.1 g-Catenin can also be a structural component of AJ, where it may be exchangeable with its close homolog, b-catenin. Both catenins also contain an armadillo domain and can bind the T-cell factor (TCF) family of transcription factors to participate in Wnt signaling. 2 We have previously identified an increase in g-catenin in the liver-specific b-catenin knockout (KO) mice, 3,4 where it was able to compensate for b-catenin loss at AJs without compromising desmosomes. However, g-catenin did not compensate for b-catenin loss in Wnt signaling, and b-catenin KO continued to lack liver-specific Wnt targets, such as glutamine synthetase (GS) and P450 2e1 and 1a2.
5The primary role of g-catenin in liver pathobiology remains unknown. We addressed the function of g-catenin in liver Supported by NIH grants 1R01DK62277 and 1R01DK100287 and Endowed Chair...