Abstract
WNT - beta-catenin - TCF pathway is involved in carcinogenesis and fetal development. Xenopus wnt-8 is one of the most potent Wnts with the capacity to activate beta-catenin - TCF pathway in the Xenopus axis duplication assay. Here, we have cloned and characterized WNT8A, a novel human homologue of Xenopus wnt-8. The WNT8A gene, consisting of at least 6 exons, was found to encode a 351-amino-acid polypeptide with the N-terminal signal peptide, three N-linked glycosylation sites, and conserved amino-acid residues of the WNT family. WNT8A showed 63.2% total-amino-acid identity to WNT8B. C-terminal region of WNT8A, WNT8B, WNT2, WNT2B1 and WNT2B2 were longer than that of other WNTs. Among various normal human tissues and 34 human cancer cells lines, the 3.5-kb WNT8A mRNA was detected only in a human teratocarcinoma cell line NT2. These results strongly suggest that WNT8A might be implicated in development of early embryos as well as germ cell tumors through activation of the WNT - beta-catenin - TCF pathway.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Blotting, Northern
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Cloning, Molecular
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Cytoskeletal Proteins / metabolism
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DNA Primers / chemistry
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DNA, Complementary / genetics
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DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
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Gene Expression
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Gene Library
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Genomic Library
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Humans
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Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / genetics
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Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / metabolism
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins / genetics*
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins / metabolism
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RNA, Messenger / analysis
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Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
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Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
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Teratocarcinoma / genetics
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Teratocarcinoma / metabolism
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Trans-Activators*
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Transcription Factors / metabolism
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Wnt Proteins
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Wnt2 Protein
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Zebrafish Proteins*
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beta Catenin
Substances
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CTNNB1 protein, human
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Cytoskeletal Proteins
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DNA Primers
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DNA, Complementary
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DNA-Binding Proteins
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Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins
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RNA, Messenger
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Trans-Activators
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Transcription Factors
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WNT2 protein, human
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Wnt Proteins
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Wnt2 Protein
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Zebrafish Proteins
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beta Catenin