The Developmental Transcription Factor Slug Is Widely Expressed in Tissues of Adult Mice

The Slug transcription factor plays an important role in epithelial-mesenchymal transformation during embryogenesis and is expressed in adult tissues during carcinogenesis. By detecting expression of a Slug-beta-galactosidase fusion protein, we have now demonstrated that Slug is also re-expressed in a variety of normal tissues in the adult mouse. Slug is expressed at relatively high levels in patchy stretches of basal cells in stratified and pseudostratified epithelium, including skin, oral mucosa, esophagus, stomach, rectum, cervix, and trachea. Slug is also found at variable levels in fibroblasts and stromal smooth muscle cells in many tissues. Sites of more intense Slug expression in mesenchymal tissues include cartilage, kidney glomeruli, lung, ovary, and uterus. Therefore, Slug expression is not restricted to the period of embryonic development or to pathological processes. The pattern of localization to basal cells in various epithelia suggests that Slug may play a role in the cell migration that occurs during continual renewal of these tissues.