HIGH-INCIDENCE OF ULTRAVIOLET-B-INDUCED OR CHEMICAL-CARCINOGEN-INDUCED SKIN TUMORS IN MICE LACKING THE XERODERMA-PIGMENTOSUM GROUP-A GENE

XERODERMA pigmentosum (XP) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a high frequency of skin cancer on sun-exposed areas, and neurological complications, XP has a defect in the early step(s) of nucleotide-excision repair (NER) and consists of eight different genetic complementation groups (groups A-G and a variant)(1). We established XPA (group-A XP) gene-deficient mice by gene targeting of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. The XPA-deficient mice showed neither obvious physical abnormalities nor pathological alterations, but were defective in NER and highly susceptible to ultraviolet-B- or 9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benz[a]anthracene-induced skin carcinogenesis. These findings provide is vivo evidence that the XPA protein protects mice from carcinogenesis initiated by ultraviolet or chemical carcinogen, The XPA-deficient mice may provide a good in vivo model to study the high incidence of skin carcinogenesis in group A XP patients.