Novel Genes involved in Epidermal differentiation, and uses thereof

摘要

A high-throughput in situ hybridization system was applied to the mouse foot pad epidermis to identify novel genes involved in epidermal differentiation. As a result, epidermal expression patterns were detected for about 100 unique mRNAs. Of these, two novel secreted proteins, dermokine-alpha and -beta, which are expressed in the suprabasal layer of the differentiated epithelia, were successfully identified. Further, the gene encoding the above proteins was found to constitute a novel gene complex (SSC).