Nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and forkhead box O3a in colon cancer: Dangerous liaison

Figure 1 Nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and forkhead box O3a drives metastatic tumor progression in colon cancer. Human primary colon carcinoma cells are heterogeneous in terms of their nuclear level of β-catenin. Agents capable of inducing the nuclear translocation of forkhead box O3a (FOXO3a) transcription factor, for example, PI3K or AKT inhibitors promote apoptosis in those colon cancer cells with low nuclear β-catenin. Conversely, the cells with high level of β-catenin are resistant to those agents and specifically express metastasis-promoting genes induced by the nuclear β-catenin/FOXO3a complex. PI3K/AKT: Phosphoinositide 3-kinase.