FIBROTIC NON-HUMAN ANIMAL, AND USE THEREOF

摘要

The present invention provides a non-human animal IKK&bgr; characterized by developing tissue fibrosis and being produced by deleting IKK&bgr; gene in a myofibroblast- and/or smooth-muscle-cell-specific manner. The non-human animal develops a disease condition that is highly similar to scleroderma. Thus, the non-human animal can be used as a model animal for scleroderma and therefore is extremely useful.