title: Molecular cloning and characterization of human WNT8A.
abstract: WNT - beta-catenin - TCF pathway is involved in carcinogenesis and fetal development. Xenopus wnt-8 is one of the most potent Wnts with the capacity to activate beta-catenin - TCF pathway in the Xenopus axis duplication assay. Here, we have cloned and characterized WNT8A, a novel human homologue of Xenopus wnt-8. The WNT8A gene, consisting of at least 6 exons, was found to encode a 351-amino-acid polypeptide with the N-terminal signal peptide, three N-linked glycosylation sites, and conserved amino-acid residues of the WNT family. WNT8A showed 63.2% total-amino-acid identity to WNT8B. C-terminal region of WNT8A, WNT8B, WNT2, WNT2B1 and WNT2B2 were longer than that of other WNTs. Among various normal human tissues and 34 human cancer cells lines, the 3.5-kb WNT8A mRNA was detected only in a human teratocarcinoma cell line NT2. These results strongly suggest that WNT8A might be implicated in development of early embryos as well as germ cell tumors through activation of the WNT - beta-catenin - TCF pathway.
authors.affiliation: Genetics and Cell Biology Section, Genetics Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saitoh
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katoh
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D015723:Gene Library; D015698:Genomic Library; D006801:Humans; D051821:Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D018243:Teratocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051154:Wnt2 Protein; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D051821:Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C495244:WNT2 protein, human; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051154:Wnt2 Protein; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin