title: Keratin genes, epidermal differentiation and animal models for the study of human skin diseases.
abstract: The examples shown here illustrate the power of gene targeting to the epidermis as a means of developing animal models for the study of human skin diseases. In this short review, I have focused on contributions which stem predominantly from my own laboratory [31, 32, 34, 37, 47]. However, other laboratories have also contributed heavily to the development of this technology [28-30, 35, 36]. The opportunities for these models are vast: there are a myriad of human skin diseases which have been characterized extensively at a biological level, but whose aetiology is presently unknown. A combined knowledge of (a) the biochemistry of epidermal differentiation; (b) epidermal-specific gene expression; and (c) transgenic mouse technology has provided the foundation for these and future studies in this area.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, IL 60637.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fuchs
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007633:Keratins / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009154:Mutation; D012867:Skin / Q000254:growth & development*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D016211:Transforming Growth Factor alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016211:Transforming Growth Factor alpha; D007633:Keratins