Role of DLX3 in primary human keratinocytes. Homo sapiens

DLX3 is expressed by differentiated cells in human skin and it has a functional role in epidermal maturation. We used microarray data analysis to assess gene expression in keratinocytes as consequence of DLX3 expression. We identified a specific subset of genes which are involved in cell cycle regulation and modulate the differentiation program in epidermal cells. Overall design: Normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) were isolated from foreskin and maintained in proliferating media. Cells were transfected with a retroviral vector expressing DLX3 (DLx3/Flag). No transduced keratinocytes (KERA) or Empty Vector (VECTOR) transduced cells were considered as controls. RNA samples were collected 24 hours later used for hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.