title: gamma-Catenin expression is reduced or absent in a subset of human lung cancers and re-expression inhibits transformed cell growth.
abstract: Lung cancer is a heterogeneous disease categorized into multiple subtypes of cancers which likely arise from distinct patterns of genetic alterations and disruptions. Precedent exists for a role of beta-catenin, a downstream component of the Wnt signaling pathway that serves as a transcriptional co-activator with TCF/LEF, in several human cancers including colon carcinomas. In this study, we observed that beta-catenin was highly and uniformly expressed in a panel of NSCLC cell lines and primary lung tumors. By contrast, gamma-catenin was weakly expressed or absent in several NSCLC cell lines and immunohistochemical analysis of primary NSCLC tumors revealed negligible to weak gamma-catenin staining in approximately 30% of the specimens. Treatment of NSCLC cells expressing reduced gamma-catenin protein with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5aza2dc), a DNA methylation inhibitor, or trichostatin A (TSA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, increased gamma-catenin protein content in NSCLC cells with low gamma-catenin expression. Significantly, the activity of a beta-catenin/TCF-dependent luciferase reporter was markedly elevated in the NSCLC cell lines that underexpressed gamma-catenin relative to those lines that highly expressed gamma-catenin. Moreover, transfection of these cells with a gamma-catenin expression plasmid reduced the elevated TCF activity by 85% and strongly inhibited cell growth on tissue culture plastic as well as anchorage-independent growth in soft agar. This study shows that gamma-catenin can function as an inhibitor of beta-catenin/TCF-dependent gene transcription and highlights gamma-catenin as a potentially novel tumor suppressor protein in a subset of human NSCLC cancers.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Administration Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, CO 80220, USA. robert.winn@uchsc.edu
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Winn
authors.forename: Roy M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Bremnes
authors.forename: Lynne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bemis
authors.forename: Wilbur A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.forename: York E
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Carlyne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cool
authors.forename: Lynn E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Heasley
mesh_terms: D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051180:Desmoplakins; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D051176:beta Catenin; D051185:gamma Catenin
chemical_list: C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D051180:Desmoplakins; C495292:JUP protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin; D051185:gamma Catenin