PLoS ONE (Nov 2010)

C/EBPδ gene targets in human keratinocytes.

  • Serena Borrelli,
  • Daniele Fanoni,
  • Diletta Dolfini,
  • Daniela Alotto,
  • Maria Ravo,
  • Olì Maria Victoria Grober,
  • Alessandro Weisz,
  • Carlotta Castagnoli,
  • Emilio Berti,
  • M Alessandra Vigano,
  • Roberto Mantovani

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0013789
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 11
p. e13789

Abstract

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C/EBPs are a family of B-Zip transcription factors--TFs--involved in the regulation of differentiation in several tissues. The two most studied members--C/EBPα and C/EBPβ--play important roles in skin homeostasis and their ablation reveals cells with stem cells signatures. Much less is known about C/EBPδ which is highly expressed in the granular layer of interfollicular epidermis and is a direct target of p63, the master regular of multilayered epithelia. We identified C/EBPδ target genes in human primary keratinocytes by ChIP on chip and profiling of cells functionally inactivated with siRNA. Categorization suggests a role in differentiation and control of cell-cycle, particularly of G2/M genes. Among positively controlled targets are numerous genes involved in barrier function. Functional inactivation of C/EBPδ as well as overexpressions of two TF targets--MafB and SOX2--affect expression of markers of keratinocyte differentiation. We performed IHC on skin tumor tissue arrays: expression of C/EBPδ is lost in Basal Cell Carcinomas, but a majority of Squamous Cell Carcinomas showed elevated levels of the protein. Our data indicate that C/EBPδ plays a role in late stages of keratinocyte differentiation.