Epidermal Abnormalities and Increased Malignancy of Skin Tumors in Human Epidermal Keratin 8-Expressing Transgenic Mice

In the 2004 study, transgenic mice expressing human epidermal keratin 8 (K8) displayed severe skin abnormalities, including epidermal hyperplasia, hair follicle dysplasia, and altered expression of differentiation markers. These mice also experienced a delay in hair follicle morphogenesis and hair cycle progression. As the mice aged, they developed preneoplastic changes and, when subjected to a skin carcinogenesis protocol, showed a higher incidence of malignant skin tumors compared to controls. The findings suggest that K8 expression in the skin may play a causative role in the development and progression of skin tumors by disrupting normal epidermal differentiation and promoting invasive growth of transformed cells. The study highlights the potential of K8 to contribute to skin tumorigenesis, although the number of mice used and the statistical significance of the results were not specified in the summary.