Abstract
Purpose: :
Recently, it has been shown that Pnn plays essential roles during differentiation of corneal epithelium. Pax6-Cre driven Pnn deletion resulted in the squamous metaplasia of corneal epithelium, which was accompanied with highly increased levels of β-catenin, Tcf4, and RNA helicase p68 (Ddx5). To further study the mechanism of corneal epithelial metaplasia in Pnn mutant, we explored the alteration in cell fate specification of Pnn deficient corneal epithelia and investigated how Pnn inactivation leads to altered Wnt signaling in corneal epithelium.
Methods: :
Pnn
Results: :
Pnn
Conclusions: :
These data suggest that Pnn plays essential roles in differentiation of corneal epithelium and maintenance of the epithelial integrity. Associations among β-catenin, p68, and Pnn imply that Pnn might act as an important regulator of β-catenin and p68 in corneal epithelial cells.
Keywords: cornea: epithelium • differentiation • signal transduction