Stuart H Yuspa

The expression of an oncogenic rasHa gene in epidermal keratinocytes stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation of protein kinase C delta and inhibits its enzymatic activity (Denning, M. F., Dlugosz, A. A., Howett, M. K., and Yuspa, S. H. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 26079-26081). Keratinocytes expressing an activated rasHa gene secrete transforming growth factor alpha (TGFalpha) and have an altered response to differentiation signals involving protein kinase C (PKC). Because the neoplastic ...

Previously, we have shown that nuclear extracts from cultured mouse keratinocytes induced to differentiate by increasing the levels of extra-cellular calcium contain Fra-1, Fra-2, Jun B, Jun D and c-Jun proteins that bind to the AP-1 DNA binding sequence. Despite this DNA binding activity, AP-1 reporter activity was suppressed in these cells. Here, we have detected the CREB family proteins CREB and CREMα as additional participants in the AP-1 DNA binding complex in differentiating ...

PURPOSE: CLIC4, a member of a family of intracellular chloride channels, is regulated by p53, c-Myc, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Regulation by factors involved in cancer pathogenesis, together with the previously shown proapoptotic activity of CLIC4, suggests that the protein may have a tumor suppressor function. To address this possibility, we characterized the expression profile, subcellular localization, and gene integrity of CLIC4 in human cancers and determined the functional ...

Mouse skin carcinomas arise from a small subpopulation of benign papillomas with an increased risk of malignant conversion. These papillomas arise with limited stimulation by tumor promoters, appear rapidly, and do not regress, suggesting that they differ in growth properties from the majority of benign tumors. The transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) proteins are expressed in the epidermis and are growth inhibitors for mouse keratinocytes in vitro; altered TGF-beta expression ...

Skin keratinocytes are subject to frequent chemical and physical injury and have developed elaborate cell survival mechanisms to compensate. Among these, the Akt/protein kinase B (PKB) pathway protects keratinocytes from the toxic effects of ultraviolet light (UV). In contrast, the protein kinase C (PKC) family is involved in several keratinocyte death pathways. During an examination of potential interactions among these two pathways, we found that the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) ...

Specific keratin cDNA probes and monospecific antikeratin antisera were used to analyze mouse epidermis and epidermal tumors for the expression of a type I 47-kDa keratin, K13, normally associated with terminal differentiation of internal stratified epithelia. We demonstrated that this keratin was virtually absent from the entire body epidermis at various stages of development. Also, it was not detected in various forms of acute and chronic epidermal hyperproliferation or in epidermal ...

Epidermal keratinocyte differentiation is a tightly regulated, stepwise process that requires protein kinase C (PKC) activation. Studies using cultured mouse keratinocytes induced to differentiate with Ca2+ have indirectly implicated the alpha isoform of PKC in upregulation of "late" (granular cell) epidermal differentiation markers. Activation of this isoform is also implicated in the suppression of "early" differentiation markers keratin (K) 1 and 10 that characterizes the neoplastic ...

Epidermal differentiation is characterized by a series of coordinated morphological and biochemical changes which result in a highly specialized, highly organized, stratified squamous epithelium. Among the specific markers expressed in differentiating epidermis are (a) two early spinous cell proteins, keratins 1 and 10 (K1 and K10); and (b) two later granular cell proteins, filaggrin and a cornified envelope precursor (CE). In vitro, epidermal basal cells are selectively cultured in 0.05 ...

In order to determine whether pemphigold antigen is synthesized by epidermal cells, and whether other, normal keratinocyte, antigens are synthesized in culture, primary cultures and subsequent subcultures of human epidermal cells derived from neonatal foreskins were studied for the presence of pemphigoid antigen, pemphigus antigen and keratin filaments using indirect immunofluorescence. Twenty-four hr after plating primary cultures, pemphigoid antigen was detected as an asymmetric ...

The protein kinase C (PKC) family of phospholipid-dependent serine-threonine kinases has been implicated in keratinocyte differentiation and neoplastic transformation. To determine if Ca(2+)-mediated keratinocyte differentiation is associated with changes in PKC isozyme gene expression, RNA was isolated from primary mouse keratinocytes grown in medium with 0.05, 0.12, or 1.4 mM Ca2+. Based on northern blot analysis, primary keratinocytes expressed mRNA encoding PKC-alpha, -delta, ...