Hyperproliferation and Defects in Epithelial Polarity upon Conditional Ablation of α-Catenin in Skin

• Published in: Cell Vol. 104; no. 4; pp. 605 - 617
• Main Authors: Vasioukhin, Valeri, Bauer, Christoph, Degenstein, Linda, Wise, Bart, Fuchs, Elaine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 23.02.2001
• Subjects: a-catenin; Alleles; alpha Catenin; Animals; Blotting, Southern; Blotting, Western; Cell Adhesion; Cell Cycle; Cell Division; Cells, Cultured; Cytoskeletal Proteins - genetics; Cytoskeletal Proteins - physiology; desmoplakin; Desmoplakins; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Epithelium - embryology; Epithelium - physiology; Flow Cytometry; Growth Substances - metabolism; Hair - physiology; Hair Follicle - metabolism; Hair Follicle - physiology; Intercellular Junctions; Keratinocytes - metabolism; MAP Kinase Signaling System; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Mitosis; Models, Genetic; Phosphorylation; Precipitin Tests; ras Proteins - metabolism; Signal Transduction; Skin - embryology; Skin Physiological Phenomena; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0092-8674; 1097-4172
• DOI: 10.1016/S0092-8674(01)00246-X

When surface epithelium was conditionally targeted for ablation of α-catenin, hair follicle development was blocked and epidermal morphogenesis was dramatically affected, with defects in adherens junction formation, intercellular adhesion, and epithelial polarity. Differentiation occurred, but epidermis displayed hyperproliferation, suprabasal mitoses, and multinucleated cells. In vitro, α-catenin null keratinocytes were poorly contact inhibited and grew rapidly. These differences were not dependent upon intercellular adhesion and were in marked contrast to keratinocytes conditionally null for another essential intercellular adhesion protein, desmoplakin (DP). KO keratinocytes exhibited sustained activation of the Ras-MAPK cascade due to aberrations in growth factor responses. Thus, remarkably, features of precancerous lesions often attributed to defects in cell cycle regulatory genes can be generated by compromising the function of α-catenin.