Transgenic animals as tools for investigating hepatocyte gene regulation and liver disease

Transgenic technology has been extensively used for studying regulation of expression of genes in the liver and for creating mouse models of liver diseases. The number and diversity of these studies is consistent with the myriad functions of the liver itself. Genes expressed in liver have been used to generate a variety of models for genetic engineering, with further promise for the future. Because of its size, diversity and extent of gene expression, and function as both an endocrine and exocrine tissue, the liver remains a focus of attention for transgenic experiments. Thus, although this tissue has already played a major role in the development and refinement of transgenic technology, it almost certainly will continue to be a tissue of major interest for gene transfer experiments. Because the liver is also a convenient target for somatic gene therapy vectors, transgenic mice will probably play an increasingly important role as tools for screening candidate vectors for somatic gene therapy, both for the efficiency of expression of the vectors and for the physiological consequences of such expression.