| First Author | Cavalheiro GR | Year | 2014 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | e87182 |
| PubMed ID | 24503550 | Mgi Jnum | J:212971 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5582586 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0087182 |
| Citation | Cavalheiro GR, et al. (2014) c-myc regulates cell proliferation during lens development. PLoS One 9(2):e87182 |
| abstractText | Myc protooncogenes play important roles in the regulation of cell proliferation, growth, differentiation and survival during development. In various developing organs, c-myc has been shown to control the expression of cell cycle regulators and its misregulated expression is detected in many human tumors. Here, we show that c-myc gene (Myc) is highly expressed in developing mouse lens. Targeted deletion of c-myc gene from head surface ectoderm dramatically impaired ocular organogenesis, resulting in severe microphtalmia, defective anterior segment development, formation of a lens stalk and/or aphakia. In particular, lenses lacking c-myc presented thinner epithelial cell layer and growth impairment that was detectable soon after its inactivation. Defective development of c-myc-null lens was not caused by increased cell death of lens progenitor cells. Instead, c-myc loss reduced cell proliferation, what was associated with an ectopic expression of Prox1 and p27(Kip1) proteins within epithelial cells. Interestingly, a sharp decrease in the expression of the forkhead box transcription factor Foxe3 was also observed following c-myc inactivation. These data represent the first description of the physiological roles played by a Myc family member in mouse lens development. Our findings support the conclusion that c-myc regulates the proliferation of lens epithelial cells in vivo and may, directly or indirectly, modulate the expression of classical cell cycle regulators in developing mouse lens. |
