Beta-catenin is an immune regulator.

Beta-catenin functions in a pathway that includes APC which restricts transformation through traditionally understood growth control and tumor suppression pathways focused on cycling. We demonstrate here that beta-catenin is an immune regulator: we observed collapse of immune regulatory functions in human cells lacking beta-catenin similar to cells of the thymus lacking the major described autoimmune regulator, AIRE. Loss of function analysis demonstrated the tumor suppressor-like molecule has a dominant function in fine control of self non-self recognition through activation of tissue-restricted antigens, most likely to restrict metastasis to distant organ sites.