Premium
Cultured epithelia from junctional epidermolysis bullosa letalis keratinocytes express the main phenotypic characteristics of the disease
Author(s) -
THOMAS L.,
FAURE M.,
CAMBAZARD F.,
KANITAKIS J.,
VERRANDO P.,
ORTONNE JP.,
THIVOLET J.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2133.1990.tb08259.x
Subject(s) - junctional epidermolysis bullosa (veterinary medicine) , epidermolysis bullosa , phenotype , dermatology , keratinocyte , disease , medicine , pathology , biology , genetics , gene , cell culture
SUMMARY Keratinocytes from a 1‐week‐old male infant with junctional epidermolysis bullosa letalis (JEBL) were grown in vitro and then grafted as multi‐layered epithelia onto nude mice, to investigate whether the defect in the dermo‐epidermal cohesiveness in the disease is of epidermal and not mesodermal origin. In culture, there was a birefringent ring of cells at the edges of the keratinocyte colonies and in places some cells looked as though they had been ejected from the periphery of the colony. At confluence, the multi‐layered epithelia were easily detached from the culture flasks using only mechanical agitation. On microscopy the fully‐differentiated epithelium on days 21, 30 and 40 after grafting sometimes showed blistering at the dermal‐epidermal junction. No labelling was noted using a GB3 monoclonal antibody, that reacts with normal human keratinocytes in culture and with the dermo‐epidermal basement membrane zone in normal skin. This indicates that the defect of JEBL may be reproduced in culture and also after grafting the cultured epithelia onto a wound without an epidermis. This suggests a possible role for the junctional structure recognized by GB3 in dermo‐epidermal cohesiveness.