Implication of galectin-3 in Wnt signaling.

Shimura, Tatsuo; Takenaka, Yukinori; Fukumori, Tomoharu; Tsutsumi, Soichi; Okada, Kohji; Hogan, Victor; Kikuchi, Akira; Kuwano, Hiroyuki et al. · Cancer Res · 2005

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Galectin-3 (gal-3), a member of the beta-galactoside-binding proteins family, was identified as a binding partner of beta-catenin. Analysis of the human gal-3 sequence reveled a structural similarity to beta-catenin as it also contains the consensus sequence (S92XXXS96) for glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta) phosphorylation and can serve as its substrate. In addition, Axin, a regulator protein of Wnt that complexes with beta-catenin, also binds gal-3 using the same sequence motif identified here by a deletion mutant analysis. The data presented here give credence to the suggestion that gal-3 is a key regulator in the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway and highlight the functional similarities between gal-3 and beta-catenin.

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