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LIVER AND BILIARY TRACT

-Catenin is critical for early postnatal liver growth

¹Department of Pathology and ²Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh; and ³Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Submitted 3 August 2006 ; accepted in final form 23 February 2007

The Wnt/-catenin pathway plays an important role in embryonic liver development, morphogenesis, and organogenesis. Here, we report on the activation of -catenin during early postnatal liver growth. Modulation of -catenin expression was studied in CD-1 mice livers over a time course of 0 to 30 postnatal days (PD) and 3 mo. Increases in total and active -catenin were observed in developing livers from PD 5 to 20. A concomitant increase in the -catenin-transcription factor (TCF) complex along with nuclear and cytoplasmic -catenin was also evident, which coincided with ongoing hepatocyte proliferation by PCNA immunohistochemistry. This activation of -catenin was multifactorial, including cyclical inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3, suppression of casein kinase-II, and a transient increase in -catenin gene expression. Coprecipitation experiments revealed the formation of the -catenin-cadherin complex at PD 5, whereas adequate -catenin-c-Met complex at the hepatocyte membrane did not form until PD 20, which might be contributing to the free -catenin pool during early postnatal growth. Furthermore, -catenin liver-specific knockout mice exhibited smaller livers at PD 30, secondary to diminished hepatocyte proliferation. These data indicate that the activation of -catenin is critical for early postnatal liver growth and development.

glycogen synthase kinase-3; casein kinase II; hepatocyte proliferation; transcription factor; Met

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