Virchows Archiv A

, Volume 412, Issue 4, pp 375–382 | Cite as

Filaggrin expression in normal and pathological skin

A marker of keratinocyte differentiation
  • J. Kanitakis
  • A. Ramirez-Bosca
  • A. Reano
  • J. Viac
  • P. Roche
  • J. Thivolet
Article
Accepted:

Summary

Filaggrin is a basic, histidine-rich protein synthesized by cells of keratinizing epithelia, that subserves major physiological functions in maturating epidermis. Its precursor, profilaggrin, constitutes a major component of keratohyalin granules. In this work the expression of profilaggrin/filaggrin was studied in 140 specimens of normal human adult and fetal skin, cultured epithelia before and after allo-and xeno-grafting, and several cases of keratinization disorders and tumours. An avidin-biotin-alkaline phosphatase technique was applied on deparaffinized tissue sections, by using a specific monoclonal antibody (AKH1) to profilaggrin/filaggrin. The results show that the expression of profilaggrin/filaggrin is variously altered in keratinization disorders, whereas in epithelial proliferations it seems to decrease with an increasing degree of dedifferentiation of the tumour. Therefore the expression of these antigens can be considered to be a sensitive marker of maturation of normal epidermis and provides a new tool for the study of differentiation of the surface epithelium in skin diseases.

Key words

Filaggrin Profilaggrin Epidermal differentiation 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1988

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. Kanitakis
    • 1
  • A. Ramirez-Bosca
    • 2
  • A. Reano
    • 1
  • J. Viac
    • 1
  • P. Roche
    • 1
  • J. Thivolet
    • 2
  1. 1.INSERM U209 and CNRS UA 601, Clinique DermatologiqueHôpital Edouard HerriotLyon Cedex 3France
  2. 2.Servicio de DermatologiaFacultat de MedicinaValenciaSpain

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