Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Breast Cancer Res. 2010;12(6):213. doi: 10.1186/bcr2723. Epub 2010 Nov 3.
β-Catenin plays important roles in mammary development and tumorigenesis through its functions in cell adhesion, signal transduction and regulation of cell-context-specific gene expression. Studies in mice have highlighted the critical role of β-catenin signaling for stem cell biology at multiple stages of mammary development. Deregulated β-catenin signaling disturbs stem and progenitor cell dynamics and induces mammary tumors in mice. Recent data showing deregulated β-catenin signaling in metaplastic and basal-type tumors suggest a similar link to reactivated developmental pathways and human breast cancer. The present review will discuss β-catenin as a central transducer of numerous signaling pathways and its role in mammary development and breast cancer.
β-连环蛋白通过其在细胞黏附、信号转导和细胞特定基因表达调控中的作用，在乳腺发育和肿瘤发生中发挥重要作用。小鼠研究强调了β-连环蛋白信号在乳腺发育的多个阶段对干细胞生物学的关键作用。β-连环蛋白信号失调会扰乱干细胞和祖细胞的动态，并在小鼠中诱导乳腺肿瘤。最近的数据表明，在化生型和基底型肿瘤中存在β-连环蛋白信号失调，提示与重新激活的发育途径和人类乳腺癌存在类似的联系。本综述将讨论β-连环蛋白作为众多信号通路的核心转导因子及其在乳腺发育和乳腺癌中的作用。
