1. Dkk2 plays an essential role in the corneal fate of the ocular surface epithelium.
- Author
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Mukhopadhyay, Mahua, Gorivodsky, Marat, Shtrom, Svetlana, Grinberg, Alexander, Niehrs, Christoph, Morasso, Maria I., and Westphal, Heiner
- Subjects
PHYSIOLOGICAL control systems ,PROTEINS ,CELL communication ,CORNEA ,EPITHELIUM ,HAIR follicles - Abstract
The Dkk family of secreted cysteine-rich proteins regulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling by interacting with the Wnt co-receptor Lrp5/6. Here, we show that Dkk2-mediated repression of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is essential to promote differentiation of the corneal epithelial progenitor cells into a non-keratinizing stratified epithelium. Complete transformation of the corneal epithelium into a stratified epithelium that expresses epidermal-specific differentiation markers and develops appendages such as hair follicles is achieved in the absence of the Dkk2 gene function. We show that Dkk2 is a key regulator of the corneal versus epidermal fate of the ocular surface epithelium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
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