Mutation or ablation of T cell factor 1 and lymphocyte enhancer factor 1 indicated involvement of the Wnt pathway in thymocyte development. The central effector of the Wnt pathway is -catenin, which undergoes stabilization upon binding of Wnt ligands to frizzled receptors. We report here that conditional stabilization of -catenin in immature thymocytes resulted in the generation of single positive T cells that lacked the TCR and developed in the absence of pre-TCR signaling and TCR selection. Although active -catenin induced differentiation in the absence of TCRs, its action was associated with reduced proliferation and survival when compared to developmental changes induced by the pre-TCR or the TCR.
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-catenin bypasses pre-TCR signaling and TCR selection in thymocyte development
-catenin, which undergoes stabilization upon binding of Wnt ligands to frizzled receptors. We report here that conditional stabilization of 
-catenin-mediated activation of TCF-1 and Lef-1 influences the fate of developing T cells
