Normal Keratinocytes (normal + keratinocyte)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Escape from microenvironmental control and progression of intraepithelial neoplasia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 6 2005
Weitian Zhang
Abstract We previously reported that normal human keratinocytes controlled neoplastic progression of tumor cells at an early stage of transformation in stratified squamous epithelium. We now studied if cells at a more advanced stage of transformation were also subject to such microenvironmental control. To accomplish this, 3D human tissues that mimic intraepithelial neoplasia were fabricated by mixing genetically marked (,-gal), early-stage (II-4 cells) or advanced-stage (SCC13) transformed keratinocytes with normal keratinocytes, and tumor cell fate and phenotype were monitored in organotypic culture and after surface transplantation to nude mice. In vivo, SCC13 cells evaded local growth suppression to undergo connective tissue invasion at significantly lower tumor cell volumes (12:1, 50:1 normal:tumor cells) than II-4 cells. This behavior was explained by the growth suppression of II-4 cells, while advanced-stage tumor cells escaped this control and continued to undergo clonal expansion in mixed cultures to form large, intraepithelial tumor clusters. These communities of tumor cells underwent autonomous growth that was associated with altered expression of markers of differentiation (keratin 1) and cell,cell communication (connexin-43). Furthermore, significantly greater numbers of SCC13 cells expanded into a basal position after low-calcium stripping of suprabasal cells of mixed cultures compared to II-4 cells, suggesting that expansion of these cells enabled tumor cell invasion after transplantation. These findings demonstrated that early tumor development in human stratified squamous epithelium required escape from microenvironmental growth control that was dependent on the transformation stage of intraepithelial tumor cells during the premalignant stage of cancer progression. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Ergocalciferol promotes in vivo differentiation of keratinocytes and reduces photodamage caused by ultraviolet irradiation in hairless mice

PHOTODERMATOLOGY, PHOTOIMMUNOLOGY & PHOTOMEDICINE, Issue 5 2004
Hiroaki Mitani
Background: Ergocalciferol (VD2) is usually administered orally and it is metabolized to produce its biologically active metabolites in the liver and kidney. Active vitamin D is a well-known potent regulator of cell growth and differentiation. Purpose: Active vitamin D such as 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,,25(OH)2D3) prevents photodamage, including wrinkles and morphologic alterations. However, its clinical and cosmetic use is limited because of its potent, associated effect on calcium metabolism. We examined the efficacy of vitamin D analogues with few adverse effects for preventing skin photodamage. Method: Topical application of VD2 to hairless mouse dorsal skin, and exposure to solar-simulating ultraviolet (UV) radiation at a dose of 10.8 J/cm2 (UVA) were performed for 15 weeks, five times a week on weekdays. At the end of the final irradiation, histological and analytical studies were performed. Results: Topical application of VD2 significantly prevented wrinkle formation and abnormal accumulation of extracellular matrix components. In addition, VD2 suppressed excessive secretion of IL-6 induced by UV irradiation in cultured human normal keratinocytes, in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: VD2 promoted keratinocytes differentiation in the epidermis and showed diverse physiological effects, the same as the active form of VD3. The results suggested that the suppression of skin photodamage involved the promotion of keratinocytes differentiation and suppression of IL-6 secretion induced by exposure to UV. Topical application of VD2 may become an effective means to suppress solar UV-induced human skin damage. [source]


Down-Regulated PAR-2 is Associated in Part with Interrupted Melanosome Transfer in Pigmented Basal Cell Epithelioma

PIGMENT CELL & MELANOMA RESEARCH, Issue 4 2004
Kazuko Sakuraba
In pigmented basal cell epithelioma (BCE), there seems to be an abnormal transfer of melanized melanosomes from proliferating melanocytes to basaloid tumor cells. In this study, the interruption of that melanosome transfer was studied with special respect to the altered function of a phagocytic receptor, protease-activated receptor (PAR)-2 in the basaloid tumor cells. We used electron microscopy to clarify the disrupted transfer at the ultrastructural level and then performed immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to examine the regulation of a phagocytic receptor, PAR-2, expressed on basaloid tumor cells. Electron microscopic analysis revealed that basaloid tumor cells of pigmented BCE have a significantly lower population of melanosomes (,16.4%) than do normal keratinocytes located in the perilesional normal epidermis (,91.0%). In contrast, in pigmented seborrheic keratosis (SK), a similarly pigmented epidermal tumor, the distribution of melanin granules does not differ between the lesional (,93.9%) and the perilesional normal epidermis (,92.2 %), indicating that interrupted melanosome transfer occurs in BCE but not in all pigmented epithelial tumors. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that the expression of PAR-2 mRNA transcripts in basaloid cells is significantly decreased in pigmented BCE compared with the perilesional normal epidermis. In contrast, in pigmented SK, where melanosome transfer to basaloid tumor cells is not interrupted, the expression of PAR-2 mRNA transcripts is comparable between the basaloid tumor cells and the perilesional normal epidermis. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that basaloid cells in pigmented BCE have less immunostaining for PAR-2 than do keratinocytes in the perilesional normal epidermis whereas in pigmented SK, there is no difference in immunostaining for PAR-2 between the basaloid tumor and the perilesional normal epidermis. These findings suggest that the decreased expression of PAR-2 in the basaloid cells is associated in part with the observed interruption of melanosome transfer in pigmented BCE. [source]


Immunohistochemical comparison of ,-catenin expression by human normal epidermis and epidermal tumors

THE JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 11 2007
Keiko FUKUMARU
ABSTRACT ,-Catenin, a cytoplasmic protein that binds directly to the intracellular domain of cadherin, controls various functions such as cell adhesion. In many human carcinomas, E-cadherin-mediated cell,cell adhesion is lost or disturbed and related to metastasis. The purpose of this study was to compare the expression of ,-catenin in the normal epidermal keratinocytes and samples from cutaneous benign and malignant epidermal tumors in 140 patients. Our study population consisted of 140 patients with benign or malignant epidermal tumors. Using immunohistochemical methods, we compared the expression of ,-catenin in their normal epidermal keratinocytes, and in samples from 61 benign (seborrheic keratosis, n = 33; verruca vulgaris, n = 14; keratoacanthoma, n = 14), and 79 malignant (Bowen's disease, n = 18; basal cell carcinoma, n = 33; squamous cell carcinoma, n = 28) epidermal tumors. ,-Catenin was found to be expressed in the cell membrane of normal keratinocytes. Compared to other cell components of the normal epidermis, basal cells showed the strongest ,-catenin expression in all 140 patients. While absent in three of 61 benign tumors, compared to normal basal cells, the expression of ,-catenin in the other 58 tumors was not significantly different; it was reduced in 71 of 79 malignant tumors (P < 0.0001). In Bowen's disease, the expression of ,-catenin on the tumor cell membrane was reduced, however, strong expression was seen in the nuclei and cytoplasm. Our results suggest that ,-catenin expression on the membrane of keratinocytes is associated with the differentiation of normal keratinocytes but not with their stage of differentiation, nor with the proliferation ability of epidermal tumor cells. [source]


Smad3 signalling plays an important role in keloid pathogenesis via epithelial,mesenchymal interactions

THE JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
TT Phan
Abstract Smad signalling plays important roles in developmental and cancer biology as well as in fibropathogenesis. Its role in keloid biology is not known. Epithelial,mesenchymal interactions, originally described in normal skin, have recently been established to play a significant role in keloid pathogenesis, and demonstrate the important influence of keratinocyte paracrine factor signalling on fibroblast behaviour. The present study investigated the role of downstream Smad cascade induction in this interaction. Normal fibroblasts (NF) and keloid fibroblasts (KF) were co-cultured in serum-free medium with normal keratinocytes (NK) or keloid keratinocytes (KK) for 5 days, after which fibroblast cell lysates were subjected to western blot and immunoprecipitation analysis to quantify the levels of Smad and Smad2/3/4 binding complex. In another set of experiments, wild-type (wt), Smad2-null (Smad2,/,) and Smad3-null (Smad3,/,) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) were assayed for cell proliferation and collagen production after serum-free co-culture with KK or exposure to conditioned media collected from serum-free KK/KF co-culture. Compared to normal skin, keloids expressed high basal levels of TGF,R1 and TGF,R2, Smad2, 3 and 4 and phospho-Smad2. Upregulation of TGF,R1 and TGF,R2, Smad3 and p-Smad2 was observed in KF co-cultured with KK, together with enhanced Smad3 phosphorylation and Smad2/3/4 binding complex production. When MEF-wt, MEF-Smad2,/, or MEF-Smad3,/, were co-cultured with KK or exposed to KK/KF co-culture conditioned media, enhanced proliferation and collagen production were seen in MEF-wt and MEF-Smad2,/, but not in MEF-Smad3,/, cells. The activation of Smad signalling, importantly that of Smad3, appears to be one facet of the complex epithelial,mesenchymal interactions in keloid pathogenesis, resulting in active KF proliferation and collagen-ECM production in co-culture with KK. This finding suggests the suppression of Smad signalling as a novel approach in keloid therapy. Copyright © 2005 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Leukaemia inhibitory factor and interleukin-8 expression in nonmelanoma skin cancers

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2001
Jacek C. Szepietowski
Leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and interleukin (IL)-8 possess activities which may contribute to the development of carcinomas. LIF can stimulate proliferation of some tumour cell lines and IL-8 is angiogenic. Using semiquantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT,PCR), we measured the expression of LIF and IL-8 mRNA in cultured normal keratinocytes (NKC) and the malignant carcinoma cells lines A431, SiHa, HeLa, and in biopsies of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and normal skin. Protein expression for LIF was assessed by immunohistochemistry in the biopsies. LIF mRNA expression was increased significantly (P < 0.01) in all carcinoma lines, except SiHa, compared with NKC but the IL-8 mRNA expression in carcinoma cell lines was similar to that in NKC. Expression of LIF mRNA was elevated in BCC and SCC compared with normal skin, but a significant difference was observed only between SCC and normal skin (P < 0.01). Both BCC and SCC showed significantly greater expression of IL-8 compared with normal skin (P < 0.01). There was no correlation between LIF and IL-8 mRNA expression either in BCCs or in SCCs. Immunoreactivity for LIF was absent throughout BCC and SCC, however, normal epidermis surrounding the tumour stained positive, as in normal skin. These data may suggest a role for LIF and IL-8 in the development of skin carcinomas, but without co-ordinate regulation of these two cytokines in this process. [source]