Human platelet β-catenin interaction proteome

In nucleated cells, β-catenin, the key downstream effector of this pathway, is a dual function protein, regulating the coordination of gene transcription and cell–cell adhesion. The specific role of β-catenin in the anucleate platelet however remains elusive. Here, we performed a label-free quantitative proteomic analysis of β-catenin immunoprecipitates from human platelets identifying 9 co-immunoprecipitating proteins. GO biological pathway analysis revealed a significant enrichment of specific functional terms including 'cell adhesion', 'cell junction organization' and ‘adherens junction organization'. Our bioinformatics data suggests that human platelet β-catenin may be involved in facilitating cell adhesion and cell junctions. We found three proteins co-immunoprecipitating with β-catenin under both resting and activated conditions, four proteins under resting condition only and two proteins under activated condition only.