Stromal β‐catenin overexpression contributes to the pathogenesis of renal dysplasia

Renal dysplasia, the leading cause of renal failure in children, is characterized by disrupted branching of the collecting ducts and primitive tubules, with an expansion of the stroma, yet a role for the renal stroma in the genesis of renal dysplasia is not known. Here, we demonstrate that expression of β-catenin, a key transcriptional co-activator in renal development, is markedly increased in the expanded stroma in human dysplastic tissue. To …