title: Expression of wild-type alpha-catenin protein in cells with a mutant alpha-catenin gene restores both growth regulation and tumor suppressor activities.
abstract: Recent studies indicate that disruption of the E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion system is frequently associated with human cancers of epithelial origin. Reduced levels of both E-cadherin and the associated protein, alpha-catenin, have been reported in human tumors. This report describes the characterization of a human ovarian carcinoma-derived cell line (Ov2008) which expresses a novel mutant form of the alpha-catenin protein lacking the extreme N terminus of the wild-type protein. The altered form of alpha-catenin expressed in Ov2008 cells fails to bind efficiently to beta-catenin and is localized in the cytoplasm. Deletion mapping has localized the beta-catenin binding site on alpha-catenin between amino acids 46 and 149, which encompasses the same region of the protein that is deleted in the Ov2008 variant. Restoration of inducible expression of the wild-type alpha-catenin protein in these cells caused them to assume the morphology typical of an epithelial sheet and retarded their growth in vitro. Additionally, the induction of alpha-catenin expression in Ov2008 cells injected into nude mice attenuated the ability of these cells to form tumors. These observations support the classification of alpha-catenin as a growth-regulatory and candidate tumor suppressor gene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, New Jersey 08544, USA.
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Bullions
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Notterman
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry; D015820:Cadherins; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002455:Cell Division; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005796:Genes; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D017354:Point Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: C495273:CTNNA1 protein, human; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; C495267:CTNNB1 protein, mouse; D015820:Cadherins; C495272:Ctnna1 protein, mouse; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin