Role of beta-catenin and Wnt-signalling in blood-brain barrier differentiation

Background and Rational: beta-Catenin is a crucial component of the canonical Wnt pathway in which it acts as a bipartite transcription factor together with LEF/TCF. At adherens junctions of epithelial and endothelial cells (ECs), beta-catenin links the C-terminus of cadherins to the actin cytoskeleton. The conditional inactivation of beta-catenin in ECs leads to embryonic lethality around midgestation because of placental malformations, vascular fragility. Additionally, because of abrogated endothelial canonical Wnt-signaling, mutant mice show defective heart cushion formation, which accounts together with plac…