Conclusion
The decreased expression of caspase-14 in filaggrin-deficient NHEKs may be induced by the inactivation of MAPK signaling pathway. These provide a novel perspective to understand the mechanism for the protective effects of filaggrin and caspase-14 on skin barrier function.
Methods
The filaggrin-deficient NHEKs were induced by transfection with lentivirus (LV) vector encoding small hairpin RNAs (shRNA). The inhibitors SB203580, PD98059 and SP600125 were used for suppressing the expression of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), p44/42 MAPK and stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (SAPK/JNK). The expression of filaggrin, p38 MAPK, p44/42 MAPK and SAPK/JNK, caspase-14, keratin1and keratin2 were detected by western blot.
Results
In filaggrin-deficient NHEKs, the expression of p38, p44/42 MAPK and SAPK/JNK and caspase-14 were significantly decreased. The inhibition of p38 and SAPK/JNK reduced the expression of caspase-14, while the p44/42 MAPK showed no consistent effects. Moreover, the filaggrin knockdown decreased the expression of keratin2, but had no effects on the level of keratin1.