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The study examined the impact of a mutant Adenovirus E1a oncoprotein, NTdl646, on skin cells in transgenic mice, revealing that its expression led to abnormal hair follicle maturation, characterized by short, crooked hair shafts and a dystrophic or absent inner root sheath. Despite these hair follicle abnormalities, the surrounding skin remained normal, and there was no increase in skin tumors. The keratinocytes in these mice showed partial resistance to growth inhibitors, suggesting that the oncoprotein disrupted normal hair follicle development by interfering with growth regulatory proteins, without causing cancerous growth.

The study presented a tracheal xenotransplantation assay as a simple in vivo system to evaluate epithelialization, hair follicle formation, and tumorigenesis using primary epidermal cells from wild-type and transgenic mice. This method involved seeding epithelial cells into deepithelialized rat tracheas, which were then transplanted into athymic nude mice. The study found that keratinocytes overexpressing ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and infected with v-Ha-ras became invasive, penetrating all layers of the tracheal wall, similar to malignant skin carcinomas in ODC/Ras transgenic mice. The assay also demonstrated its utility in hair follicle reconstitution, showing that freshly harvested epithelial cells were more effective than cultured ones in forming hair follicles. The method proved advantageous for studying keratinocyte stem cell colonies and factors affecting hair follicle development, especially when cell numbers were limited.