Epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) is caused by defective assembly of keratin intermediate filaments in basal keratinocytes and recent studies indicated causal mutations in the keratin KRT5 and KRT14 genes. In this study, we describe a novel KRT5 mutation in a German sporadic case of EBS Dowling-Meara. Transition of G to T (nucleotide position 2334) leads to a premature stop codon (E477stop, r...

A monoclonal antibody directed against a 65-kDa brain protein demonstrates an epitope found in keratin from human epidermis. By indirect immunofluorescence, the antibody decorates intracytoplasmic filaments in a subclass of astrocytes and Purkinje cells of adult hamster brain. Double-label immunofluorescence study using antibody to glial fibrillary acidic protein and this antibody reveals the 6...

Simple epithelial cells synthesize a different set of keratins than epidermal cells. In experiments reported in this manuscript, we show that the base level of keratin expression in simple epithelial cells is variable for different cell types, and that, in some simple epithelia, this level can be upregulated by increasing the exposure of cells to retinoids, but not glucocorticoids or estradiol....

We studied the effect of tacalcitol (1 alpha, 24 dihydroxy vitamin D3) ointment on clinical and immunohistochemical efficacy in psoriatic patients during 2 months of treatment. The psoriasis area and severity index decreased significantly after only 1 month and the total body surface index decreased 55% after 2 months. To characterize the epidermal compartment keratin 14, keratin 16, epidermal ...

Keratins I and II form the largest subgroups of mammalian intermediate filament (IF) proteins and account as obligatory heteropolymers for the keratin filaments of epithelia. All human type I genes except for the K18 gene are clustered on chromosome 17q21, while all type II genes form a cluster on chromosome 12q13, that ends with the type I gene K18. Highly related keratin gene clusters are fou...

The keratin polypeptide pattern of newborn mouse back, ear, and tail epidermis is uniform and consists of eight individual proteins with a molecular weight range of 46,000 to 67,000. In the adult animal, the keratin patterns of the corresponding body sites are both different from the neonatal pattern and different among themselves. Most notably, ear and tail epider mis contains a high-molecular...

Keratin is a structural protein of mammalian tissues and birds, representing the principal constituent hair, nails, skin, wool, hooves, horns, beaks, feathers, playing an essential role in protecting body from external harassment. Due to its intrinsic features such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, responsiveness specific biological environment, physical–chemical properties, keratin has be...

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a tumor consisting of squamous epithelial cells. This tumor is relatively uncommon in goats. In this report, we discuss clinical, gross and histopathological features of SCC in six goats. The goats were referred to the veterinary clinic with a progressive ulcerative and hemorrhagic mass located in the perineal area. The vital signs (temperature, pulse rate, resp...

Human hair has three main regions, the medulla, the cortex, and the cuticle. An existing model for the cortex suggests that the α-keratin- based intermediate filaments (IFs) align with the hair's axis, but are orientationally disordered in-plane. We found that there is a new region in the cortex near the cuticle's boundary in which the IFs are aligned with the hair's axis, but additionally, the...

Using mRNA from cultured human mesothelial cells, we constructed bacterial plasmids and lambda phage vectors that contained cDNA sequences specific for the keratins expressed in these cells. A cloned cDNA encoding keratin K7 (55 kD) was identified by positive hybrid selection. Southern Blot analysis indicated that this sequence is represented only once in the human genome, and Northern Blot ana...