Effects of caspase-8 deletion in the intestinal epithelium

Caspase-8 is a cystein protease involved in regulating apoptosis. The function of caspase-8 was studied in the intestinal epithelium, using mice with an intestinal epithelial cell specific deletion of caspase-8. We used microarrays to investigate the difference of the global programme of gene expression in intestinal epithelial cells of control and caspase-8 deficient mice. Intestinal epithelial cells were isolated from 3 control mice and 3 mice with a conditional deletion of caspase-8 in the intestinal epithelium. RNA was isolated and subjected to Affymetrix gene chip analysis.