Keratin 14-mediated Cre recombinase expression induced expression of MCPyV T antigens in stratified squamous epithelial cells and Merkel cells

1 Title: Tumorigenic activity of Merkel cell polyomavirus T antigens expressed in the stratified epithelium of mice Running Title: Merkel cell polyomavirus T antigen expression in murine skin Authors: Megan E. Spurgeon 1 *, Jingwei Cheng 2, 3 *, Roderick T. Bronson , Paul F. Lambert , James A. DeCaprio 2, 3, 5 * These authors made equal contributions. 1. Department of Oncology, McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53705, USA. 2. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA. 3. Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. 4. Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. 5. Corresponding author: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, Tel: 617-632-3825, email: [email protected] Financial support: This work was supported in part by US Public Health Service grants R01 CA63113, R01 CA173023 and P01 CA050661 to JAD and P01 CA022443 to PFL. MES was supported by the University of Wisconsin Investigative Dermatology Training Program T32AR055893.