Sustained expression of activated beta-catenin in dermal fibroblasts causes skin fibrosis

Forced expression of activated beta-catenin in mouse dermal fibroblasts is sufficient to cause spontaneous, progressive skin fibrosis in vivo. We generated triple-transgenic HoxB6CreERT/+; R26-YFP/+; Catnb?ex3/+ "activated beta-catenin" mice and double-transgenic HoxB6CreERT/+; R26-YFP/+ littermate control mice. We induced Cre activity (resulting in expression of activated beta-catenin in triple-transgenic mutant fetuses) by administering tamoxifen to the pregnant dam at embryonic day 16.5. The activated beta-catenin mice developed fibrotic skin, characterized by elevated collagen deposition and increased fibroblast proliferation. We performed RNA-sequencing to profile gene expression in the dermis of control and activated beta-catenin mutant mice with established skin fibrosis at 3 weeks of age. Overall design: Gene expression profiles were determined by paired-end sequencing (Illumina HiSeq 2500) of total RNA from the dermis of 3 activated beta-catenin and 3 littermate control mice at 3 weeks of age.

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Hamburg-Shields E, DiNuoscio GJ, Mullin NK, Lafyatis R, Atit RP