Transcriptional profiling of SmoM2 expressing IFE cells at different stages of basal cell carcinoma formation

Basal cell carcinoma initiating cells undergo profound and rapid reprogramming into embryonic hair follicle progenitor like fate upon SmoM2 expression. Activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways is required in a cell autonomous manner for the reprogramming of adult IFE progenitors into EHFP-like fate as well as for tumor initiation. We used MA to define the molecular changes that occur in basal cell carcinoma initiating cells form the first oncogenic hit to the development of invasive tumor and further on to investigate the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling activation in molecular changes occurring early during BCC development. Basal interfollicular cells expressing SmoM2 were FACS isolated at different stages of tumor development and in β-catenin LOF condition for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. By comparing the transcriptional profile of SmoM2 expressing cells with FACS-isolated cells from littermate control mice, we determined a list of genes differentially regulated by SmoM2 expression as specific SmoM2 signature.