{"doi":"10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100478","title":"Pannexin 1 binds β-catenin to modulate melanoma cell growth and metabolism","abstract":"Melanoma is the most aggressive skin malignancy with increasing incidence worldwide. Pannexin1 (PANX1), a member of the pannexin family of channel-forming glycoproteins, regulates cellular processes in melanoma cells including proliferation, migration, and invasion/metastasis. However, the mechanisms responsible for coordinating and regulating PANX1 function remain unclear. Here, we demonstrated a direct interaction between the C-terminal region of PANX1 and the N-terminal portion of β-catenin, a key transcription factor in the Wnt pathway. At the protein level, β-catenin was significantly decreased when PANX1 was either knocked down or inhibited by two PANX1 blockers, Probenecid and Spironolactone. Immunofluorescence imaging showed a disrupted pattern of β-catenin localization at the cell membrane in PANX1-deficient cells, and transcription of several Wnt target genes, including MITF, was suppressed. In addition, a mitochondrial stress test revealed that the metabolism of PANX1-deficient cells was impaired, indicating a role for PANX1 in the regulation of the melanoma cell metabolic profile. Taken together, our data show that PANX1 directly interacts with β-catenin to modulate growth and metabolism in melanoma cells. These findings provide mechanistic insight into PANX1-mediated melanoma progression and may be applicable to other contexts where PANX1 and β-catenin interact as a potential new component of the Wnt signaling pathway.","journal":"Journal of Biological Chemistry","year":2021,"id":158966,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":43,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9597,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":669028,"name":"Kenneth Huang","orcid":"0000-0002-0317-5549","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669029,"name":"Zhigang Li","orcid":"0000-0001-5086-5334","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669030,"name":"Christopher Zhang","orcid":"0000-0003-0098-2692","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669988,"name":"Alexandra M. Kozlov","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669031,"name":"Danielle Johnston","orcid":"0000-0001-7491-1518","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669989,"name":"Daniel Nouri‐Nejad","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669032,"name":"Lina Dagnino","orcid":"0000-0003-1483-5159","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669033,"name":"Dean H. Betts","orcid":"0000-0002-5528-9142","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":341570,"name":"David B. Sacks","orcid":"0000-0003-3100-0735","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":600910,"name":"Silvia Peñuela","orcid":"0000-0003-4829-5517","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669027,"name":"Samar Sayedyahossein","orcid":"0000-0003-1773-4740","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":69,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:44:35.165422Z","pmid":"33647315","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}