Study of Epidermal Differentiation in Human Keratinocytes Cultured in Autocrine Conditions

  • Frédéric Minner
  • Françoise Herphelin
  • Yves Poumay
Protocol
Part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series (MIMB, volume 585)

Abstract

This chapter deals with protocols to set up human keratinocyte cultures in serum-free conditions and lead them to autocrine autonomously growing conditions. These conditions have proven adequate for studies of epidermal differentiation by measurements of the expression of typical early and late differentiation markers. The chapter also deals with the use of quantitative RT-PCR in order to determine the epidermal marker gene expression levels by comparison with adequate housekeeping genes.

Key words

Keratinocytes Autocrine culture Cell density Epidermal differentiation markers Quantitative RT-PCR 

Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by FRFC grant 2.4506.01 and FNRS grant 1.5.033.06F to YP.

References

  1. 1.
    Rheinwald, J.G., and Green, H. (1975) Serial cultivation of strains of human keratinocytes: the formation of keratinizing colonies from single cells. Cell 6, 331–344.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Boyce, S.T., and Ham, R.G. (1983) Calcium-regulated differentiation of normal human epidermal keratinocytes in chemically defined clonal culture and serum-free serial culture. J. Invest. Dermatol. 81, 33s–40s.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Cook, P.W., Pittelkow, M.R., and Shipley, G.D. (1991a) Growth factor-independent proliferation of normal human neonatal keratinocytes: production of autocrine- and paracrine-acting mitogenic factors. J. Cell. Physiol. 146, 277–289.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    Cook, P.W., Mattox, P.A., Keeble, W.W., Pittelkow, M.R., Plowman, G.D., Shoyab, M., Adelman, J.P., and Shipley, G.D. (1991b) A heparin sulfate-regulated human keratinocytes autocrine factor is similar or identical to amphiregulin. Mol. Cell. Biol. 11, 2547–2557.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Pittelkow, M.R., Cook, P.W., Shipley, G.D., Derynck, R., and Coffey, R.J. Jr (1993) Autonomous growth of human keratinocytes requires epidermal growth factor receptor occupancy. Cell Growth Diff. 4, 513–521.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Poumay, Y. and Pittelkow, M.R. (1995) Cell density and culture factors regulate keratinocyte commitment to differentiation and expression of suprabasal K1/K10 keratins. J. Invest. Dermatol. 104, 271–276.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Poumay, Y., Herphelin, F., Smits, P., De Potter, I.Y., and Pittelkow, M.R. (1999) High cell density phorbol ester and retinoic acid upregulate involucrin and downregulate suprabasal keratin 10 in autocrine cultures of human epidermal keratinocytes. Mol. Cell. Biol. Res. Commun. 2, 138–144.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Smits, P., Poumay, Y., Tylzanowski, P., Karperien, M., Wouters, J., Ponec, M., Huylabroeck, D., and Merregaert, J. (2000) Differentiation-dependent alternative splicing and expression of the Extracellular Matrix Protein 1 (Ecm1) gene in human keratinocytes. J. Invest. Dermatol. 114, 718–724.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Minner F., and Poumay Y. (2009) Candidate housekeeping genes require evaluation before their selection for studies of human epidermal keratinocytes. J. Invest. Dermatol. 129, 770–773. Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Frédéric Minner
    • 1
  • Françoise Herphelin
    • 1
  • Yves Poumay
    • 1
  1. 1.Cell and Tissue LaboratoryURPHYM, University of Namur (FUNDP)NamurBelgium

Personalised recommendations