| First Author | Mukhopadhyay M | Year | 2006 |
| Journal | Development | Volume | 133 |
| Issue | 11 | Pages | 2149-54 |
| PubMed ID | 16672341 | Mgi Jnum | J:109481 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3629006 | Doi | 10.1242/dev.02381 |
| Citation | Mukhopadhyay M, et al. (2006) Dkk2 plays an essential role in the corneal fate of the ocular surface epithelium. Development 133(11):2149-54 |
| abstractText | The Dkk family of secreted cysteine-rich proteins regulates Wnt/beta-catenin signaling by interacting with the Wnt co-receptor Lrp5/6. Here, we show that Dkk2-mediated repression of the Wnt/beta-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. |
