The role of kallikreins in inflammatory skin disorders and their potential as therapeutic targets.

The skin is a vital organ of the human body, serving numerous protective and functional roles that are essential for survival. Residing in the epidermis are various epidermal proteases responsible for the establishment and regulation of barrier function. The human tissue kallikrein-related peptidase family conserves homeostasis of the skin barrier through their roles in desquamation, antimicrobial defense, innate immune response, and barrier maintenance. The activity of kallikreins is tightly regulated and dysregulation of kallikrein activity is seen to contribute to the formation of several inflammatory skin disorders. This review highlights the roles of kallikreins in skin homeostasis and pathologies. Due to their part in these skin disorders, inhibitors of the skin kallikreins have become attractive therapeutics. Over the past few years, both natural and synthetic inhibitors of several kallikreins have been identified and are undergoing further development as treatments to restore compromised barrier function. This review summarizes the kallikrein inhibitors under development for this purpose. These inhibitors remain promising therapeutics in cases of severe skin inflammation not well managed by current therapies.

Screening of chemical libraries in pursuit of kallikrein-5 specific inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory dermatoses.

Background Aberrant kallikrein activity is observed in a number of inflammatory dermatoses. Up-regulation of kallikrein-5 (KLK5) activity leads to uncontrolled skin desquamation and cleavage of proteinase-activated receptor-2 (PAR2), causing the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and disruption of epidermal barrier function. This study aimed to identify KLK5-specific small molecule inhibitors which can serve as the foundation of a novel therapeutic for inflammatory skin disorders. Methods Five chemical libraries (13,569 compounds total) were screened against recombinant KLK5 using a fluorogenic enzymatic assay. Secondary validation was performed on the top 22 primary hits. All hits were docked in the KLK5 crystal structure to rationalize their potential interactions with the protein. Results A naturally occurring compound derived from the wood of Caesalpinia sappan (Brazilin) was identified as a novel KLK5 inhibitor (IC50: 20 µM, Ki: 6.4 µM). Docking suggests that the phenolic moiety of Brazilin binds in the S1-pocket of KLK5 and forms a H-bond with S195 side chain. KLK14 was also found to be susceptible to inhibition by Brazilin with a calculated IC50 value of 14.6 µM. Conclusions Natural KLK5 small molecule inhibitors such as Brazilin, are ideal for topical skin disease drug design and remain a promising therapeutic for severe cases of inflammatory skin disorders. Optimized KLK inhibitors may have increased efficacy as therapeutics and warrant further investigation.

Deubiquitinating enzymes regulate PARK2-mediated mitophagy.

The selective degradation of mitochondria by the process of autophagy, termed mitophagy, is one of the major mechanisms of mitochondrial quality control. The best-studied mitophagy pathway is the one mediated by PINK1 and PARK2/Parkin. From recent studies it has become clear that ubiquitin-ligation plays a pivotal role and most of the focus has been on the role of ubiquitination of mitochondrial proteins in mitophagy. Even though ubiquitination is a reversible process, very little is known about the role of deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) in mitophagy. Here, we report that 2 mitochondrial DUBs, USP30 and USP35, regulate PARK2-mediated mitophagy. We show that USP30 and USP35 can delay PARK2-mediated mitophagy using a quantitative mitophagy assay. Furthermore, we show that USP30 delays mitophagy by delaying PARK2 recruitment to the mitochondria during mitophagy. USP35 does not delay PARK2 recruitment, suggesting that it regulates mitophagy through an alternative mechanism. Interestingly, USP35 only associates with polarized mitochondria, and rapidly translocates to the cytosol during CCCP-induced mitophagy. It is clear that PARK2-mediated mitophagy is regulated at many steps in this important quality control pathway. Taken together, these findings demonstrate an important role of mitochondrial-associated DUBs in mitophagy. Because defects in mitochondria quality control are implicated in many neurodegenerative disorders, our study provides clear rationales for the design and development of drugs for the therapeutic treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson and Alzheimer diseases.