ATF2 and ATF7 knockdown in Ramos cells decreases TCF/LEF activity, Axin 2 expression and cell growth.

<p>(A–C) Ramos cells containing the TCF/LEF firefly and renilla luciferase lentiviral reporters were transduced with shATF2 and shATF7 or control lentiviral vectors. ATF2 and ATF7 down-regulation assessed by immunoblot analysis. (A) shATF2/7 inhibits constitutive TCF/LEF reporter activity in Ramos cells. (B) Knockdown of ATF2 and ATF7 reduces the expression of the Wnt target gene Axin 2 in Ramos cells as measured by quantitative real-time PCR. The results normalized to the control represent the mean values ± SEM of three independent experiments. (*) P<0.05; (**) P<0.001 compared with control (two-way Anova test) (C) shATF2/7 inhibits Ramos cell colony formation. (D) Model for β-catenin-dependent and β-catenin-independent canonical Wnt signaling. See the text for details.