On 3T3 fibroblast feeder layers, Pax6 immunostaining was negative in clones generated from epithelial cells harvested from corneal pannus from SJS or aniridia, but positive in those from the normal limbal epithelium; whereas western blots showed that some epithelial clones expanded from pannus retained Pax6 expression.
Corneal degeneration was age-related: Older Pax6(+/-) mice had prominent subepithelial pannus and more goblet cells in the peripheral corneal epithelium.