Gosens Reinoud, Meurs Herman, Schmidt Martina
Department of Molecular Pharmacology, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713, AV, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2008 Aug;378(2):185-91. doi: 10.1007/s00210-008-0269-8. Epub 2008 Jul 9.
beta-Catenin is a plasma membrane-associated protein that plays a dual role in cellular signalling by stabilizing cadherin mediated cell-cell contact and by regulating TCF-/LEF-mediated gene transcription. Traditionally, the role of beta-catenin in health and disease has mainly been studied in the context of development and uncontrolled cell growth in diseases such as cancer. Recent findings indicate, however, that beta-catenin also plays a significant role in fibro-proliferative diseases of several organ systems and that beta-catenin regulates mitogenic responses of smooth muscle cells. As several diseases of the internal organs are characterized by structural and phenotypic abnormalities of smooth muscle, including increased fibro-proliferative responses, these findings implicate that beta-catenin could play a broad pathophysiological role. This article will review this potential novel role for beta-catenin and associated intracellular signalling in smooth muscle and discuss the hypothesis that it plays a central role in smooth muscle remodelling.
β-连环蛋白是一种与质膜相关的蛋白质，它在细胞信号传导中发挥双重作用，既能稳定钙黏蛋白介导的细胞间接触，又能调节TCF-/LEF介导的基因转录。传统上，β-连环蛋白在健康和疾病中的作用主要是在发育以及癌症等疾病中不受控制的细胞生长背景下进行研究的。然而，最近的研究结果表明，β-连环蛋白在多个器官系统的纤维增生性疾病中也发挥着重要作用，并且β-连环蛋白调节平滑肌细胞的有丝分裂反应。由于几种内脏疾病的特征是平滑肌的结构和表型异常，包括纤维增生反应增加，这些发现意味着β-连环蛋白可能发挥广泛的病理生理作用。本文将综述β-连环蛋白在平滑肌中的这一潜在新作用以及相关的细胞内信号传导，并讨论其在平滑肌重塑中起核心作用的假说。
