β-catenin as a potential key target for tumor suppression

beta-catenin is a multifunctional protein identified to be pivotal in embryonic patterning, organogenesis and adult homeostasis. It plays a critical structural role in mediating cadherin junctions and is also an essential transcriptional co-activator in the canonical Wnt pathway. Evidence has been documented that both the canonical Wnt pathway and cadherin junctions are deregulated or impaired in a plethora of human malignancies. In the light of this, there has been a recent surge in elucidating the mechanisms underlying the etiology of cancer development from the perspective of beta-catenin. Here, we focus on the emerging roles of beta-catenin in the process of tumorigenesis by discussing novel functions of old players and new proteins, mechanisms identified to mediate or interact with beta-catenin and the most recently unraveled clinical implications of beta-catenin regulatory pathways toward tumor suppression.