Kikuchi Akira
Department of Biochemistry, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University.
Cancer Sci. 2003 Mar;94(3):225-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1349-7006.2003.tb01424.x.
The genetics of development and cancer have converged in the identification of intra- and extra-cellular signaling pathways that are aberrantly regulated in cancer, and are also central to embryonic patterning. The Wnt signaling pathway has provided an outstanding example of this. The genes for beta-catenin, APC, and Axin in the Wnt signaling pathway are often mutated in human cancers. In all such cases, the common denominator is the activation of gene transcription by beta-catenin. The resulting gene expression profile should provide a significant clue to the developmental mechanisms of cancers carrying defects in the Wnt signaling pathway. In this review, the functions of beta-catenin, APC and Axin, and the alterations of the three genes in human cancers are described.
发育遗传学和癌症遗传学在识别细胞内和细胞外信号通路方面有了交集，这些信号通路在癌症中受到异常调节，同时也是胚胎模式形成的核心。Wnt信号通路就是一个突出的例子。Wnt信号通路中的β-连环蛋白、APC和Axin基因在人类癌症中经常发生突变。在所有这些情况下，共同特征是β-连环蛋白激活基因转录。由此产生的基因表达谱应该能为携带Wnt信号通路缺陷的癌症的发育机制提供重要线索。在这篇综述中，描述了β-连环蛋白、APC和Axin的功能，以及这三个基因在人类癌症中的改变。
