Eradication of pathogenic β-catenin by Skp1/Cullin/F box ubiquitination machinery

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Abstract
The use of Skp1/Cull 1/F box (SCF) ubiquitin-conjugation machinery as a potential knockout tool offers a means of eradicating disease-causing proteins. Here a chimeric F box protein (CFP) was engineered to achieve selective eradication of pathogenic β-catenin in colorectal cancer. We show that CFP specifically searches for and subsequently links the abnormal β-catenin to the cellular SCF ubiquitination complex. Introduction of the CFP to colorectal cancer cells induced targeted ubiquitination and proteolytic degradation of nuclear and cytoplasmic free β-catenin while preserving its normal cellular adhesion counterpart. Elimination of pathogenic β-catenin suppressed constitutive Wingless/Wnt signaling and inhibited in vitro and in vivo tumor cell growth. This study demonstrates a practical utility of a SCF-based knockout system as a tool in targeting an abnormal protein that affects growth and transformation.