Credit: Dr. Aruna Kode/Kousteni lab, Columbia University Medical Center.
Mutated beta-catenin in bone cells may cause up to 40 percent of acute myeloid leukemia cases. In the cells of healthy subjects (left), beta catenin proteins (red dots) sit along the outer edges of the cell. In approximately 40 percent of AML patients (right), abnormal beta-catenin proteins (red dots) move into the cell interior; in mouse models, this movement sets cancer-causing changes into motion.