Novel protein in human epidermal keratinocytes: regulation of expression during differentiation

Recently, two groups of cDNA clones have been isolated from human epidermal keratinocytes; the clones correspond to genes whose expression is stimulated by exposure of the cells to UV light or treatment with 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (T. Kartasova and P. van de Putte, Mol. Cell. Biol. 8:2195-2203, 1988). The proteins predicted by the nucleotide sequence of both groups of cDNAs are small (8 to 10 kilodaltons), are exceptionally rich in proline, glutamine, and cysteine, and contain repeating elements with a common sequence, PK PEPC. These proteins were designated sprI and sprII (small, proline rich). Here we describe the characterization of the sprIa protein, which is encoded by one of the group 1 cDNAs. The expression of this protein during keratinocyte differentiation in vitro and the distribution of the sprIa protein in some human tissues was studied by using a specific rabbit antiserum directed against a synthetic polypeptide corresponding to the 30 amino acids of the C-terminal region of the sprIa gene product. The results indicate that the expression of the sprIa protein is stimulated during keratinocyte differentiation both in vitro and in vivo.