Abstract
The c-kit ligand is expressed on tissue-anchored stromal cells. It plays an important role in the development of c-kit-bearing cells, such as haematopoietic cells, germ cells, mast cells and melanocytes. In the present study, we used the reverse transcriptase-mediated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to investigate whether human keratinocytes are able to express c-kit ligand mRNA. Two sets of primers were designed to distinguish two types of c-kit ligand mRNA (full-length type and spliced type). One set was used to amplify an 882-bp DNA fragment from the full-length type, and a 798-bp DNA fragment from the spliced type. Another set was used to amplify a 375-bp DNA fragment from the full-length type only. A cDNA fragment corresponding to the full-length type mRNA was amplified from a cDNA preparation of cultured human keratinocytes as well as from epidermis obtained by the suction blister technique. This result indicates the spontaneous transcription of full-length type mRNA of the c-kit ligand in human keratinocytes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
De Luca M, D'Anna F, Bondanza S, Franzi AT, Cancedda R (1988) Human epithelial cells induce human melanocyte growth in vitro but only skin keratinocytes regulate its proper differentiation in the absence of dermis. J Cell Biol 107: 1919–1926
Halaban R, Langdon R, Birchall N, Cuono C, Baird A, Scott G, Moellman G, McGuire J (1988) Basic fibroblast growth factor from keratinocytes is a natural mitogen for melanocytes. J Cell Biol 107: 1611–1619
Halaban R (1991) Growth factors and tyrosine kinases in normal and malignant melanocytes. Cancer Metastasis Rev 10: 129–140
Nishikawa S, Kusakabe M, Yoshinaga K, Ogawa M, Hayashi S, Kunisada T, Era T, Sakakura T, Nishikawa T (1991) In utero manipulation of coat color formation by a monoclonal anti-c-kit antibody: two distinct waves of c-kit-dependency during melanocyte development. EMBO J 10: 2111–2118
Furukawa F, Huff JC, Weston WL, Norris DA (1987) Serumfree serial culture of adult human keratinocytes from suction-blister roof epidermis. J invest Dermatol 89: 460–463
Morita E, Yamada S, Kimura I, Nakamura K, Sugita Y, Yamamoto S (1993) Interleukin-8 products from cultured human dermal fibroblasts by stimulation with supernatant of cultured human epidermal cells. Skin Pharmacol 6: 161–169
Giard DJ, Aaronson SA, Todaro GJ, Arnstein P, Kersey JH, Dosik H, Parks WP (1973) In vitro cultivation of human tumors: Establishment of cell lines derived from a series of solid tumours. J. Natl Cancer Inst 51: 1417–1423
Saiki RK, Gelfand DH, Saiki RK, Gelfand DH, Stoffel S, Schrare SJ, Higuchi R, Horn GT, Mullis KB, Erlich HA (1988) Primer-directed enzymatic amplification of DNA with a thermostable DNA polymerase. Science 239: 487–491
Martin FH, Suggs SV, Langley KE, Lu HS, Ting J, Okino KH, Morris CF, McNiece IK, Jacobsen FW, Mendiaz EA, Birkett NC, Smith KA, Johnson MJ, Parker VP, Flores JC, Patel AC, Fisher EF, Erjavec HO, Herrera CJ, Wypych J, Sachdev RK, Pope JA, Leslie I, Wen D, Lin C-H, Cupples RL, Zsebo KM (1990) Primary structure and functional expression of rat and human stem cell factor DNAs. Cell 63: 203–211
Sambrook J, Fritsch EF, Maniatis T (1989) Molecular cloning, a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor
Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR (1977) DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74: 5463–5467
Flanagan JG, Chan DC, Leder P (1991) Transmembrane form of the Kit ligand growth factor is determined by alternative splicing and is missing in the S1 mutant. Cell 63: 1025–1035
Chabot B, Stephenson DA, Chapman VM, Besmer P, Bernstein A (1988) The proto-oncogene c-kit encoding a trans-membrane tyrosine kinase receptor maps to the mouse W locus. Nature 335: 88–89
Geissler EN, Ryan MA, Housman DE (1988) The dominant-white (W) locus of the mouse encodes the c-kit proto-oncogene. Cell 55: 185–192
Zsebo KM, Williams DA, Geissler EN, Broudy VC, Martin FH, Atkins HL, Hsu R-Y, Birkett NC, Okino KH, Murdock DC, Jacobsen FW, Langley KE, Smith KA, Takeishi T, Cattanach BM, Galli SJ, Suggs SV (1990) Stem cell factor is encoded at the S1 locus of the mouse and is the ligand for the c-kit tyrosine kinase receptor. Cell 63: 213–224
Copeland NG, Gilbert DJ, Cho BC, Donovan PJ, Jenkins NA, Cosman D, Anderson D, Lyman SD, Williams DE (1990) Mast cell growth factor map near the S1 locus on mouse chromosome 10 and is deleted in a number of Steel alleles. Cell 63: 175–183
Huang E, Nocka K, Beier DR, Chu T-Y, Buck J, Lahm H-W, Wellner D, Leder P, Besmer P (1990) The hematopoietic growth factor KL is encoded by the S1 locus and is the ligand of the c-kit receptor, the gene product of the W locus. Cell 63: 225–233
Kitamura Y, Go S, Hatanaka K (1978) Decrease of mast cells in W/Wv mice and their increase by bone marrow transplantation. Blood 52: 447–452
Kitamura Y, Go S (1979) Decreased production of mast cells in S1/S1d anemic mice. Blood 53: 492–497
Nocka K, Majumder S, Chabot B, Ray P, Cervone M, Bernstein A, Besmer P (1989) Expression of c-kit gene products in known cellular targets of W mutations in normal and W mutant mice — evidence for an impared c-kit kinase in mutant mice. Genes Dev 3: 816–826
Zsebo KM, Wypych J, McNiece IK, Lu HS, Smith KA, Karkare SB, Sachdev RK, Yuschenkoff VN, Birkett NC, Williams LR, Satyagal VN, Tung W, Bosselman RA, Mendiaz EA, Langley KE (1990) Identification, purification, and biological characterization of hematopoietic stem cell factor from Buffalo rat liver-conditioned medium. Cell 63: 195–201
Kitamura Y (1989) Heterogeneity of mast cells and phenotypic change between subpopulations. Ann Rev Immunol 7: 59–76
Rossi P, Albanesi C, Grimaldi P, Geremia R (1991) Expression of the mRNA for the ligand of c-kit in mouse Sertoli cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 176: 910–914
Giebel L, Spritz RA (1991) Mutation of the KIT (mast/stem cell growth factor receptor) protooncogene in human piebaldism. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88: 8696–8699
Fleischman RA, Saltman DL, Stastny V, Zneimer S (1991) Deletion of the c-kit protooncogene in the human developmental defect piebald trait. Proc. Natl Acad Sci USA 88: 10885–10889
Longley J Jr, Morganroth GS, Tyrrell L, Ding TG, Anderson DM, Williams DE, Halaban R (1993) Altered metabolism of mast-cell growth factor (c-kit ligand) in cutaneous mastocytosis. N Engl J Med 328: 1302–1307
Matsui Y, Zsebo KM, Hogan BLM (1990) Embryonic expression of a haemotopoietic growth factor encoded by the S1 locus and the ligand for c-kit. Nature 347: 667–669
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morita, E., Lee, D.G., Sugiyama, M. et al. Expression of c-kit ligand in human keratinocytes. Arch Dermatol Res 286, 273–277 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00387600
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00387600