Lactoferrin-iCre: A New Mouse Line to Study Uterine Epithelial Gene Function
Lactoferrin-iCre: A New Mouse Line to Study Uterine Epithelial Gene Function
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DOI：
10.1210/en.2014-1265
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发表时间：
2014-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
Dey, Sudhansu K.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Daikoku, Takiko;Ogawa, Yuya;Dey, Sudhansu K.
转基因动物模型对于研究各种组织区室中的基因功能很有价值。使用 Cre-loxP 系统条件性删除子宫基因的小鼠是研究子宫生物学的有力工具。子宫由 3 种主要组织类型组成：子宫肌层、间质和上皮。每种子宫细胞类型的增殖和分化均受到卵巢激素的差异调节，从而导致基因表达的时空控制。因此，检查每种子宫组织类型的基因功能将提供有关妊娠期间子宫生物学和疾病状态的更有意义的信息。尽管目前可用的 Cre 小鼠品系对于探索子宫生物学中特定基因的功能非常有用，但这些 Cre 品系在超过 1 种组织类型和其他生殖器官中的重叠表达有时会使结果的解释变得困难。在本文中，我们报道了新的 iCre 敲入小鼠系的产生，其中 iCre 由内源性乳铁蛋白 (Ltf) 启动子表达。 Ltf-iCre 小鼠主要在雌激素治疗后直接在成年雌性和未成熟雌性的子宫上皮中进行重组。这些小鼠将允许对成熟子宫上皮中的基因功能进行特异性询问，为揭示子宫生物学的重要方面提供有用的工具。
Transgenic animal models are valuable for studying gene function in various tissue compartments. Mice with conditional deletion of genes in the uterus using the Cre-loxP system serve as powerful tools to study uterine biology. The uterus is comprised of 3 major tissue types: myometrium, stroma, and epithelium. Proliferation and differentiation in each uterine cell type are differentially regulated by ovarian hormones, resulting in spatiotemporal control of gene expression. Therefore, examining gene function in each uterine tissue type will provide more meaningful information regarding uterine biology during pregnancy and disease states. Although currently available Cre mouse lines have been very useful in exploring functions of specific genes in uterine biology, overlapping expression of these Cre lines in more than 1 tissue type and in other reproductive organs sometimes makes interpretation of results difficult. In this article, we report the generation of a new iCre knock-in mouse line, in which iCre is expressed from endogenous lactoferrin (Ltf) promoter. Ltf-iCre mice primarily direct recombination in the uterine epithelium in adult females and in immature females after estrogen treatment. These mice will allow for specific interrogation of gene function in the mature uterine epithelium, providing a helpful tool to uncover important aspects of uterine biology.