Cultured primary human keratinocytes are frequently employed for studies of immunological and inflammatory responses; however, interpretation of experimental data may be complicated by donor to donor variability, the relatively short culture lifetime, and variations between passages. To standardize the in vitro studies on keratinocytes, we investigated the use of HaCaT cells, a long-lived, spon...

The ethyl acetate fraction from ethanolic extract of Wedelia trilobata (L.) leaves displayed wound healing properties. The ethyl acetate fraction was further subjected to bioassay-guided fractionation which afforded isolation of grandiflorenic acid which requires further investigation to prove its wound healing potential. The grandiflorenic acid from leaves of Wedelia trilobata was assessed for...

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune disease characterized by binding of IgG autoantibodies to epidermal keratinocyte desmosomes. IgG autoantibodies obtained from a patient with mucocutaneous PV reacted with plakoglobin (Plkg) in addition to desmoglein-3 (Dsg3) and Dsg1. Immunofluorescence analysis confirmed that IgG autoantibodies, unlike antibodies from a healthy volunteer, caused disrupt...

Methanolic avocado (Persea americana Mill., Lauraceae) seed extracts were separated by preparative HSCCC. Partition and HSCCC fractions were principally characterized by LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis. Their in vitro influence was investigated on proliferation, differentiation, cell viability, and gene expression on HaCaT and normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) and normal human dermal fibroblast...

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic, inflammatory disease of the skin with increased transepidermal water loss. Both an abnormal inflammatory response and a defective skin barrier are known to be involved in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis. Protease activated receptor 2 (PAR2) belongs to a family of G-protein coupled receptors and is activated by both trypsin and a specific agonist peptide, SL...

HaCaT as well as human primary keratinocytes constitutively expressed mRNA of the human secreted phospholipase A(2) subtype groups X, V, IIA, and IID. A similar expression pattern was also found in human skin biopsies. Protein analysis showed that under serum-free conditions only group X secreted phospholipase A(2) is secreted into cell culture supernatants of HaCaT as well as human primary ker...

In response to UVB damage, keratinocytes undergo apoptosis to eliminate damaged cells, thereby preventing tumorigenic transformation. Caffeine, the most widely consumed psychoactive substance, produces complex pharmacological actions; it has been shown to be chemopreventive in non-melamona skin cancer in humans and in mice through increasing apoptosis. Here we have investigated the molecular an...

In the progress of allergic and irritant contact dermatitis, chemicals that cause the generation of reactive oxygen species trigger a heat shock response in keratinocytes. In this study, an optical sensor cell line based on cultured human keratinocytes (HaCaT cells) expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the stress-inducible HSP70B' promoter were constructed. Exposure o...

Collagenase-3 (matrix metalloproteinase 13; MMP-13) is a novel matrix metalloproteinase, the expression of which to date has only been detected in human breast carcinoma tissue and osteoarthritic cartilage. Here, we show that MMP-13 transcripts are expressed by human HaCaT keratinocytes but not by primary human epidermal keratinocytes. The levels of MMP-13 mRNAs in HaCaT cells were enhanced up ...

The effects of millimeter waves (MW) on human keratinocytes were studied in vitro using the HaCaT keratinocyte cell line. MW-induced modulation of keratinocyte function was