title: Involvement of adenomatous polyposis coli (APC)/beta-catenin signalling in human breast cancer.
abstract: We studied the relevance of adenomatous polyposis coli (APC)/beta-catenin signalling in the development of breast cancer by analysing the expression of beta-catenin in 54 primary breast tumours (34 ductal and 20 lobular). We showed that 13% of the tumours exhibited upregulated levels of beta-catenin in the cytosol suggesting that defects in APC/beta-catenin signalling components had lowered the rate of beta-catenin degradation. No mutations were observed in the amino-terminal region of beta-catenin, which comprises conserved serine residues important for phosphorylation-dependent degradation of the protein, but the APC protein was altered in 6% of the tumours. Tyrosine phosphorylation of beta-catenin was detected in only one tumour and could, therefore, not have been responsible for the observed increased levels of this protein. Although 9% of the tumours displayed upregulation of c-MYC protein, there was no correlation with beta-catenin overexpression, suggesting that increased beta-catenin expression is not the major cause of c-myc gene activation in breast cancer. It is imperative that elements that selectively drive the oncogenic activity of beta-catenin in breast cancer be identified.
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Pathology, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, Sweden. marzieh.jonsson@pat.mas.lu.se
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nilbert
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Andersson
mesh_terms: D025601:Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Protein; D000328:Adult; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002450:Cell Communication; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D013548:Sweden; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: D025601:Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Protein; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin