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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Sep 8.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2022 Sep 9;1:806–816. doi: 10.1038/s44161-022-00125-6

Figure 4. Cre/CreER-induced toxicity carries hallmarks of known cellular responses to DNA damage.

Figure 4

Although DNA damage normally induces repair mechanisms to maintain cell viability, ineffective repair in response to Cre/CreER toxicity can trigger three different damage responses, namely cell inflammatory cytokine release, cycle arrest or apoptosis (indicated by arrows). These cellular responses have been observed in studies using retroviral CreER and the indicated Cre or CreER transgenes (responses may not be mutually exclusive). It is likely that Cre/CreER toxicity-induced cytokine release causes sterile inflammation, typically mediated by monocytes, macrophages and neutrophils (indicated with dashed arrows). Cre/CreER toxicity-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis might also cause sterile inflammation.