Fig. 1

a β-catenin – E-cadherin relationship in a primary carcinoma tumor cell, pre-EMT. E-cadherin sequesters cytosolic β-catenin at the cell membrane where it forms a complex with other members of the catenin family to help E-cadherin attach to the cell’s cytoskeleton. b The upregulation of Dvl via Wnt signaling inhibits the degradation of β-catenin by deactivating the GSK-3β/Axin complex, allowing β-catenin to translocate to the nucleus and upregulate the transcription factor Slug. Slug suppresses the transcription of E-cadherin, which means there is less E-cadherin to sequester β-catenin at the membrane. β-catenin can continue to accumulate and translocate to the nucleus, thus completing the feedback the loop