UTX LoxP Mouse Model for Oncology Research

UTX-flox. Conditional knockout mice for the histone demethylase UTX (Kdm6a) conditional knockout will help understand its role as a tumor suppressor.

Di- and tri-methylations on histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me2 and H3K27me3) are epigenetic marks for gene repression. UTX (ubiquitously transcribed X chromosome protein), also known as Kdm6a (lysine (K)-specific demethylase 6a) is a histone demethylase that specifically removes H3K27me2 and H3K27me3. UTX knockout mice are embryonic lethal, so we have generated UTX conditional knockout mice (UTX-flox) in which exon 24 is flanked with loxP sites. UTX has been found to be a tumor suppressor gene mutated in a wide variety of human cancers. The UTX-flox mice provide a valuable tool to study how UTX functions as a tumor suppressor and as an epigenetic regulator of gene expression.