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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

A Simplified and Efficient Method to Isolate Primary Human Keratinocytes from Adult Skin Tissue
Published on: August 25, 2018
Apoptosis-induced cleavage of keratin 15 and keratin 17 in a human breast epithelial cell line
V Badock1, U Steinhusen, K Bommert
1Department of Protein Chemistry, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, D-13092 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Keratin 15 (K15) and keratin 17 (K17) are intermediate filament (IF) type I proteins that are responsible for the mechanical integrity of epithelial cells. By analyzing the human breast epithelial cell line H184A1 before and after induction of apoptosis by high-resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) we identified the caspase-mediated cleavage of keratins 15 and 17. After induction of apoptosis three fragments of both K15 and K17 could be observed by 2 -DE. K15 and K17 proteolysis was observed during staurosporine-induced apoptosis and anoikis (anchorage-dependent apoptosis) as well and was shown to be caspase-dependent. By using mass spectrometry we could determine the caspase cleavage sites, one in K15 and two in K17. The sequence VEMD/A at the cleavage site located in the conserved linker region was found in K15 and K17. A further cleavage site was identified in the tail region of K17 with the recognition motif EVQD/G.
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