Live

The Marseille Cancer Research Center celebrates its 50th anniversary ! -

Jan 2011 EMBO reports

Protein tyrosine kinase 7 has a conserved role in Wnt/β-catenin canonical signalling.

Authors

Puppo F, Thomé V, Lhoumeau AC, Cibois M, Gangar A, Lembo F, Belotti E, Marchetto S, Lécine P, Prébet T, Sebbagh M, Shin WS, Kodjabachian L, Borg JP

Summary

The receptor protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7) was recently shown to participate in noncanonical Wnt/planar cell polarity signalling during mouse and frog embryonic development. In this study, we report that PTK7 interacts with β-catenin in a yeast two-hybrid assay and mammalian cells. PTK7-deficient cells exhibit weakened β-catenin/T-cell factor transcriptional activity on Wnt3a stimulation. Furthermore, Xenopus PTK7 is required for the formation of Spemann’s organizer and for Siamois promoter activation, events that require β-catenin transcriptional activity. Using epistatic assays, we demonstrate that PTK7 functions upstream from glycogen synthase kinase 3. Taken together, our data reveal a new and conserved role for PTK7 in the Wnt canonical signalling pathway.

Read the article