title: A novel animal model for pseudoxanthoma elasticum: the KK/HlJ mouse.
abstract: Pseudoxanthoma elasticum is a multisystem ectopic mineralization disorder caused by mutations in the ABCC6 gene. A mouse model with targeted ablation of the corresponding gene (Abcc6(tm1JfK)) develops ectopic mineralization on the dermal sheath of vibrissae as biomarker of the progressive mineralization disorder. Survey of 31 mouse strains in a longitudinal aging study has identified three mouse strains with similar ectopic mineralization of the vibrissae, particularly the KK/HlJ strain. We report here that this mouse strain depicts, in addition to ectopic mineralization of the dermal sheath of vibrissae, mineral deposits in a number of internal organs. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis and topographic mapping found the presence of calcium and phosphate as the principal ions in the mineral deposits, similar to that in Abcc6(tm1JfK) mice, suggesting the presence of calcium hydroxyapatite. The mineralization was associated with a splice junction mutation at the 3' end of exon 14 of the Abcc6 gene, resulting in a 5-bp deletion from the coding region and causing frame-shift of translation. As a consequence, essentially no Abcc6 protein was detected in the liver of the KK/HlJ mice, similar to that in Abcc6(tm1JfK) mice. Collectively, our studies found that the KK/HlJ mouse strain is characterized by ectopic mineralization due to a mutation in the Abcc6 gene and therefore provides a novel model system to study pseudoxanthoma elasticum.
authors: Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA.
authors: Qiaoli
authors: Q
authors: Li
authors: Annerose
authors: A
authors: Berndt
authors: Haitao
authors: H
authors: Guo
authors: John P
authors: JP
authors: Sundberg
authors: Jouni
authors: J
authors: Uitto
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D020029:Base Pairing / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002113:Calcification, Physiologic; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D027425:ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C Proteins; D011561:Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017384:Sequence Deletion / Q000235:genetics; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D027425:ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C504743:Abcc6 protein, mouse