Down-regulation of death-associated protein kinase-2 is required for β-catenin-induced anoikis resistance of malignant epithelial cells

Resistance of solid tumor cells to anoikis, apoptosis induced by cell detachment from the extracellular matrix, is thought to be critical for the ability of these cells to grow anchorage independently within thee-dimensional tumor masses and from metastases.β-Catenin, a major oncoprotein, can inhibit anoikis of cancer cells via unknown mechanisms. In an effort to identify these mechanisms we found that β-catenin blocks anoikis of malignant kidney and intestinal epithelial cells and promotes their anchorage-independent growth by down-regulating death-associated protein kinase-2 (DAPk-2), a pro-apoptotic protein whose cellular functions have so far remained unexplored. We found that β-catenin-induced down-regulation of DAPk-2 requires the presence of the transcription factor Tcf-4, a known mediator of β-catenin signaling. We also observed that DAPk-2 contributes to the execution of anoikis of the non-malignant epithelial cells. Thus, β-catenin-induced down-regulation of DAPk-2 represents a novel signaling mechanism by which β-catenin promotes the survival of malignant epithelial cells following their detachment from the ECM and enables these cells to grow in an anchorage-independent manner.