IKKα regulates human keratinocyte migration through surveillance of the redox environment

Although the functions of H 2 O 2 in epidermal wound repair are conserved throughout evolution, the underlying signaling mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study we used human keratinocytes (HEK001) to investigate H 2 O 2 -dependent wound repair mechanisms. Scratch wounding led to H 2 O 2 production in two or three cell layers at the wound margin within ∼30 min and subsequent cysteine modification of proteins via sulfenylation. Intriguingly, exogenous H 2 O 2 treatment resulted in preferential sulfenylation of keratinocytes that adopted a migratory phenotype and detached from neighboring cells, suggesting that one of the primary functions of H 2 O 2 is to stimulate signaling factors involved in cell migration. Based on previous findings that revealed epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) involvement in H 2 O 2 -dependent cell migration, we analyzed oxidation of a candidate upstream target, the inhibitor of κB kinase α (IKKα; encoded by CHUK ), as a mechanism of action. We show that IKKα is sulfenylated at a conserved cysteine residue in the kinase domain, which correlates with de-repression of EGF promoter activity and increased EGF expression. Thus, this indicates that IKKα promotes migration through dynamic interactions with the EGF promoter depending on the redox state within cells.