Beta-catenin’s multiple functions make it an important player in the study of various disease states including depression, cardiac disease, and cancer.
Erica Yao at UCSF used our beta-catenin antibody (Cat# BCAT, 1:100) to stain paraffin wax mouse lung sections with antigen retrieval and biotinylated secondary antibodies.
Beta catenin is a multi-function protein
Beta catenin was first identified as a cell adhesion protein – a key player in tissue integrity and communication. Shortly thereafter, it was found to have a critical role in the Wnt signaling pathway where it is known to translocate to the nucleus, bind to transcription factors, and influence embryonic development, cell proliferation, differentiation, and other cellular processes. It was one of the first examples of a protein performing two completely different functions.
Beta catenin is implicated in a variety of disease states
Vital in the Wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway, b-catenin levels in the brain have been correlated to both stress and depression. This same pathway helps regulates stem cell status and cardiac development and growth. Disruption in beta-catenin levels in the heart can lead to cardiac dysfunction including myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, and more. Beta catenin is also critical for tissue homeostasis. Mutations in beta-catenin are associated with many cancers where beta-catenin dysregulation promotes aberrant proliferation and cellular invasion.
As a therapeutic target, beta-catenin is challenging
With the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway implicated in so many different physiological processes, therapies are difficult to develop without the possibility of a multitude of side effects. In addition, inhibition via targeting a binding site on some areas of beta-catenin is difficult due to the protein’s structure. This has led to attempts to influence beta-catenin levels by targeting upstream factors in the Wnt pathway. However, there is no doubt that a protein with this much influence will continue to get lots of attention in future research!
View our chicken polyclonal beta-catenin antibody!
Our sister company PhosphoSolutions offers a mouse monoclonal and several rabbit polyclonal beta-catenin antibodies - both total protein and phosphospecific varieties.