Somatic mutations of β-catenin play a crucial role in the tumorigenesis of sporadic hepatoblastoma

Aberrant Nuclear Localization and Gene Mutation of β-catenin in Low-Grade Adenocarcinoma of Fetal Lung Type: Up-Regulation of the Wnt Signaling Pathway May Be a Common Denominator for the Development of Tumors that Form Morules

“…This is in sharp contrast to another group of tumors with frequent ␤-catenin or APC mutations and high-grade malignancy with a poor prognosis, such as hepatoblastoma (40,41) and anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid (42). Further study is necessary to clarify the mechanism by which mutations of the ␤-catenin and APC genes are related to the grade of malignancy.…”

Therapeutic Innovations for Targeting Hepatoblastoma

“…More particularly, high frequency of point mutations and deletions in exon 3 of CTNNB1 was first reported by Koch et al (27) and confirmed by others (49%-89%) (28) indicating a crucial role of this pathway in hepatoblastoma. Subsequent immunohistochemistry experiments confirmed an aberrant cytoplasmic/nuclear localization of β-catenin in the majority of hepatoblastomas (29)(30)(31). Other members of the pathway have also been screened for mutations in sporadic hepatoblastoma, such as AXIN1, AXIN2 or APC.…”

Wnt-5a has tumor suppressor activity in thyroid carcinoma

“…Stabilized b-catenin in this canonical Wnt pathway enters the cell nucleus and associates with members of the T-cell factor and lymphoid enhancer factor (TCF/LEF-1) family of transcription factors where it stimulates expression of Wnt/b-catenin target genes including regulators of cell growth and proliferation, modulators of cell death pathways and cell-cell communication (He et al, 1998;Van der Heyden et al, 1998;Mann et al, 1999;Tetsu and McCormick, 1999;Yamada et al, 2000;Zhang et al, 2001). This transforming activity of the Wnt/bcatenin pathway, which was initially delineated in the mammary epithelial cell line, C57MG, appears to be involved in the carcinogenesis of a number of human epithelial carcinomas (Kitaeva et al, 1997;Fukuchi et al, 1998;Miyoshi et al, 1998;Palacios and Gamallo, 1998;Chan et al, 1999;Gamallo et al, 1999;Kobayashi and Sagae, 1999;Koch et al, 1999;Mirabelli-Primdahl et al, 1999;Nhieu et al, 1999;Park et al, 1999;Wright et al, 1999;Jeng et al, 2000;Woo et al, 2001).…”