During hair follicle development several cell streams are programmed to differentiate from the cell population of the follicle bulb. In the hair cells, a number of keratin gene families are transcriptionally activated. We describe the characterization of the type II keratin intermediate filament (IF) gene family which is expressed early in follicle differentiation. In sheep wool, four type II I...

PURPOSE Expression of the K3-K12 keratin pair characterizes the corneal epithelial differentiation. To elucidate the role of keratin 12 in the maintenance of corneal epithelium integrity, the authors bred mice deficient in keratin 12 by gene-targeting techniques. METHODS One allele of murine Krt1.12 gene was ablated in the embryonic stem cell line, E14.1, by homologous recombination with a DN...

The importance of protein phosphatases in the maintenance of cytoskeletal structure is supported by the serious liver injury caused by microcystin-LR, a hepatotoxic inhibitor of type-1 and type-2A serine/threonine protein phosphatases. We used the microcystin-LR-induced cell injury as a model to study the roles of protein dephosphorylation in maintaining cytoskeletal structure and cellular inte...

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), the phenotypical change of cells from an epithelial to a mesenchymal type, is thought to be a key event in invasion and metastasis of adenocarcinomas. These changes involve loss of keratin expression as well as loss of cell polarity and adhesion. We here aimed to determine whether the loss of keratin expression itself drives increased invasion and met...

In studies of gene regulation of keratin 16, we reported previously that simian virus 40 promoter factor 1 shows a functional cooperation with c-Jun and coactivators p300/CBP in driving the transcriptional regulation of epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced keratin 16 gene expression. In the present study, we found that the stimulated expression of keratin 16 by EGF was mediated mainly through ...

Keratin protein has been applied for biomedical applications due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, mechanical resistance, and bioavailability. Tragacanth gum (TG) as a polysaccharide-based biopolymer wound healing antimicrobial properties. In this study, keratin was extracted from protein-based chicken feather by using reduction hydrolysis (sodium sulfide), nanogels of TG composites at...

Keratin intermediate lament networks are part of the cytoskeleton in epithelial cells. They were found to regulate viscoelastic properties and motility of cancer cells. Due to unique biochemical properties of keratin polymers, the knowledge of the mechanisms controlling keratin network formation is incomplete. A combination of deterministic and stochastic modeling techniques can be a valuable s...

Immunocytochemical stains for three epithelial cell markers--keratin, epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)--have been examined on paraffin-embedded material from 14 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Tumour cells staining positively for keratin were found in all cases and for EMA in eight; two tumours contained CEA-positive cells. Seven cases of Hodgki...

The keratin intermediate filament cytoskeleton protects epithelial cells against various types of stress and is involved in fundamental cellular processes such as signaling, differentiation and organelle trafficking. These functions rely on the cell type-specific arrangement and plasticity of the keratin system. It has been suggested that these properties are regulated by a complex cycle of ass...

Bullous ichthyosiform erythroderma (BIE) is a rare disorder of keratinization (mutations in either keratin 1 or 10). It typically presents with fragile skin, which gives way to gradual evolutionof hyperkeratosis. Flaccid blisters, peeling, and superficial erosions at sites of minor trauma or friction are apparent within the first few hours of life. Yellow-brown, waxy, ridged or corrugated...