Rowlands Tracey M, Pechenkina Irina V, Hatsell Sarah, Cowin Pamela
Departments of Cell Biology and Dermatology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA.
Cell Cycle. 2004 Feb;3(2):145-8.
Beta-catenin and cyclin D1 have attracted considerable attention due to their proto-oncogenic roles in human cancer. The finding of cyclin D1 as a direct target gene of beta-catenin in colon cancer cells led to the assumption that cyclin D1 upregulation is pivotal to beta-catenin's oncogenicity. Our recent paper shows that this is not the case; cyclin D1 dampens the oncogenicity of activated beta-catenin (MMTV-DN89beta-catenin). The relationships and dependencies of beta-catenin and cyclin D1 point to distinct, essential and sequential roles during alveologenesis. These results support the concept that both beta-catenin's and cyclin D1's actions are more sophisticated than simple acceleration of the cell cycle clock. These proteins are employed at critical junctures involving cell fate decisions that we speculate require specific types of cell cycle to traverse.
β-连环蛋白和细胞周期蛋白D1因其在人类癌症中的原癌基因作用而备受关注。在结肠癌细胞中发现细胞周期蛋白D1是β-连环蛋白的直接靶基因，这使得人们认为细胞周期蛋白D1的上调对于β-连环蛋白的致癌性至关重要。我们最近的论文表明情况并非如此；细胞周期蛋白D1会减弱活化的β-连环蛋白（MMTV-DN89β-连环蛋白）的致癌性。β-连环蛋白和细胞周期蛋白D1之间的关系和依赖性表明它们在肺泡形成过程中具有不同、重要且相继的作用。这些结果支持了这样一种概念，即β-连环蛋白和细胞周期蛋白D1的作用比简单地加速细胞周期时钟更为复杂。这些蛋白质在涉及细胞命运决定的关键时刻发挥作用，我们推测这需要特定类型的细胞周期来完成。
