LAMA3 and nutritional deficiency disease: Mice with a targeted deletion of Lama3 (laminin α3) [20] or Lamc2 (laminin γ2) [21] genes or a spontaneous disrupting insertion of an intracisternal A particle (IAP) element in the Lamb3 (laminin ß3) gene [22] die within a few days after birth, presumably due to the skin blistering (dehydration) or involvement of the oral and gastroesophageal mucosa (malnutrition).