Anti-beta Catenin Antibody

beta Catenin, considered a moonlighting protein, is a component of mammalian cell adhesion complex in the cytoplasm along with playing a key downstream component of the canonical Wingless Int-1 (Wnt) signaling pathway in the nucleus (McTrea P.D et al, 1991 and Kemler R. et al, 1993). As part of a protein complex that forms adheren junctions, beta Catenin is necessary for the creation and maintenance of epithelial cell layers and barriers (Brembeck F.H. et al, 2006). beta Catenin is responsible for transmitting the contact inhibition signal that causes cells to stop dividing once the epithelial sheet is complete (Brembeck F.H. et al, 2006). The Wnt/beta Catenin signaling pathway plays important roles in mammalian development (Logan C.Y. et al, 2004 ) and irregular regulation of this signaling pathway is associated with human diseases and cancers (Moon R.T., 2004). HIPK2 is a negative regulator of the Wnt signaling via the direct phosphorylation of beta Catenin at ser33/37 causing degradation (Kim E.A. et al, 2010). Additionally, stabilization of beta Catenin has been shown when AMPK phosphorylates at ser552 regulating energy metabolism to cell differentiation and development by enhancing the beta Catenin/TCF mediated transcription within the Wnt/betaCatenin signaling pathway (Zhao J. et al, 2010).