| First Author | Lenox JM | Year | 2000 |
| Journal | J Invest Dermatol | Volume | 114 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 948-52 |
| PubMed ID | 10771476 | Mgi Jnum | J:62092 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1858326 | Doi | 10.1046/j.1523-1747.2000.00976.x |
| Citation | Lenox JM, et al. (2000) Postnatal lethality of P-cadherin/desmoglein 3 double knockout mice: demonstration of a cooperative effect of these cell adhesion molecules in tissue homeostasis of stratified squamous epithelia. J Invest Dermatol 114(5):948-52 |
| abstractText | To investigate the cooperativity of different cell adhesion molecules in maintaining the structural integrity of the epidermis, we have generated mice deficient for both a classical cadherin, P-cadherin, and a desmosomal cadherin, desmoglein 3. In epithelial cells, P-cadherin is localized to the adherens junction, whereas desmoglein 3 is found in desmosomes. Previous studies have shown that these two junctional complexes are important for keratinocyte cell-cell adhesion. Both P-cadherin and desmoglein 3 expression are restricted to the basal and most immediate suprabasal cells of the epidermis, whereas both proteins are found throughout the oral mucosal epithelium. Although P-cadherin mutant mice have no apparent defect in epithelial cell adhesion, the desmoglein 3 mutant phenotype resembles that of patients with the autoimmune disease pemphigus vulgaris, in that the mice develop spontaneous mucous membrane blisters and trauma-induced skin blisters. The oral lesions in DSG3-/- mice reduce their food intake, resulting in a runted phenotype; however, most animals recover and live past weaning age. In contrast, animals mutant for both P-cadherin and desmoglein 3 die before weaning. The majority of the double mutant animals die around 1 wk after birth, apparently due to malnutrition. These studies suggest that loss of P-cadherin leads to a more severe desmoglein 3 mutant phenotype in the double knockout mice. This is the first in vivo evidence of possible synergism between a classical and desmosomal cadherin. |
