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    Cell. 2002 Mar 22;108(6):837-47.

    Control of beta-catenin phosphorylation/degradation by a dual-kinase mechanism.

    Liu C, Li Y, Semenov M, Han C, Baeg GH, Tan Y, Zhang Z, Lin X, He X.

    Division of Neuroscience, Children's Hospital, Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

    Wnt regulation of beta-catenin degradation is essential for development and carcinogenesis. beta-catenin degradation is initiated upon amino-terminal serine/threonine phosphorylation, which is believed to be performed by glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) in complex with tumor suppressor proteins Axin and adnomatous polyposis coli (APC). Here we describe another Axin-associated kinase, whose phosphorylation of beta-catenin precedes and is required for subsequent GSK-3 phosphorylation of beta-catenin. This "priming" kinase is casein kinase Ialpha (CKIalpha). Depletion of CKIalpha inhibits beta-catenin phosphorylation and degradation and causes abnormal embryogenesis associated with excessive Wnt/beta-catenin signaling. Our study uncovers distinct roles and steps of beta-catenin phosphorylation, identifies CKIalpha as a component in Wnt/beta-catenin signaling, and has implications to pathogenesis/therapeutics of human cancers and diabetes.

    PMID: 11955436 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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