EMBO Member

Walter Birchmeier

MDC, Berlin | Germany

EMBO 2005

beta-catenin and Met/Gab1/Shp2 in development and cancer

After working on E-cadherin/ß-catenin and Met in invasion and metastasis, we found that beta-catenin acts in canonical Wnt signaling by binding to transcription factors LEF/TCF. We found the signal transducer of Met, Gab1, which acts through Shp2. We use conventional and conditional loss and-gain-of-function mutations of beta-catenin and Gab1/Shp2 in mice to study stem and cancer stem cells (in skin, brain, heart, kidney, mammary gland).

Keywords: Signal transduction / invasion & metastasis / Wnt / beta-catenin / HGF / Met / Gab1 / Shp2 in development / tumor progression

Subject area(s): Cell & Tissue Architecture | Development | Signal Transduction