p38 Inhibition ameliorates skin and skull abnormalities in Fgfr2 Beare-Stevenson mice.

Beare-Stevenson cutis gyrata syndrome (BSS) is a human genetic disorder characterized by skin and skull abnormalities. BSS is caused by mutations in the FGF receptor 2 (FGFR2), but the molecular mechanisms that induce skin and skull abnormalities are unclear. We developed a mouse model of BSS harboring a FGFR2 Y394C mutation and identified p38 MAPK as an important signaling pathway mediating these abnormalities. Fgfr2+/Y394C mice exhibited epidermal hyperplasia and premature closure of cranial sutures (craniosynostosis) due to abnormal cell proliferation and differentiation. We found ligand-independent phosphorylation of FGFR2 and activation of p38 signaling in mutant skin and calvarial tissues. Treating Fgfr2+/Y394C mice with a p38 kinase inhibitor attenuated skin abnormalities by reversing cell proliferation and differentiation to near normal levels. This study reveals the pleiotropic effects of the FGFR2 Y394C mutation evidenced by cutis gyrata, acanthosis nigricans, and craniosynostosis and provides a useful model for investigating the molecular mechanisms of skin and skull development. The demonstration of a pathogenic role for p38 activation may lead to the development of therapeutic strategies for BSS and related conditions, such as acanthosis nigricans or craniosynostosis.

Collagenase expression in transgenic mouse skin causes hyperkeratosis and acanthosis and increases susceptibility to tumorigenesis.

In a series of transgenic mice, the human tissue collagenase gene was expressed in the suprabasal layer of the skin epidermis. Visually, the mice had dry and scaly skin which upon histological analysis revealed acanthosis, hyperkeratosis, and epidermal hyperplasia. At the ultrastructural level, intercellular granular materials were absent in the transgenic skin epidermis but contact was maintained through the intact desmosomes. Despite a diversity of underlying etiologies, similar morphological hyperproliferative changes in the epidermis are observed in the human skin diseases of lamellar ichthyosis, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis. Subsequent experiments demonstrate that when the transgenic mouse skin was treated once with an initiator (7,12-dimethyl-benz[a]anthracene) and then twice weekly with a promoter (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate), there was a marked increase in tumor incidence among transgenic mice compared with that among control littermates. These experiments demonstrate that by overexpressing the highly specific proteolytic enzyme collagenase, a cascade of events leading to profound morphological changes which augment the sensitivity of the skin towards carcinogenesis is initiated in the epidermis.

Defect in tyrosine kinase activity of the insulin receptor from a patient with insulin resistance and acanthosis nigricans.

We report here a defect in tyrosine kinase activity of the insulin receptor from an insulin-resistant patient with acanthosis nigricans using cultured Ebstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed B-lymphocytes. As judged by affinity labeling and immunoblotting, the alpha- and beta-subunits of insulin receptors from the patient's lymphocytes exhibited the same mol wt as those from control subjects. Lectin-purified extracts from lymphocytes of the patient and the control subjects containing the same insulin-binding capacity were assayed for autophosphorylation and the ability to phosphorylate histone H2B. The degree of insulin-dependent autophosphorylation and the tyrosine kinase activity of the insulin receptor from the patient's lymphocytes were decreased to 15% and 13%, respectively, in a cell-free system. The insulin-dependent autophosphorylation of the insulin receptor was also impaired in intact EBV lymphocytes from the patient. Consistent with these results, we found that one of this patient's alleles had a mutation in which valine is substituted for Gly996, the third glycine in the conserved Gly-X-Gly-X-X-Gly motif in the kinase domain. Thus, it seems likely that the defect in tyrosine kinase activity of the insulin receptor cause the insulin resistance in this patient. The EBV lymphocyte can be a good system to detect genetically determined abnormalities in the insulin receptor.

Tyrosine kinase activity of the insulin receptor of patients with type A extreme insulin resistance: studies with circulating mononuclear cells and cultured lymphocytes.

The syndrome of type A insulin resistance in nonobese women is characterized by hyperinsulinemia, resistance to exogenous insulin, acanthosis nigricans, polycystic ovaries, and masculinization. Insulin binding to intact circulating monocytes and cultured Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B-lymphocytes derived from these patients is decreased in some patients but normal in others. Insulin receptors consist of two subunits; the alpha-subunit contains the insulin-binding site, and the beta-subunit possesses an insulin-sensitive tyrosine-specific protein kinase activity. Insulin binding to circulating monocytes was decreased in five patients, suggesting a decreased number of alpha-subunits on the surface of cells from the patients with type A insulin resistance. In the present work, we demonstrated that there is a proportional decrease in the function of the beta-subunit (i.e. tyrosine kinase activity) in cells from these subjects. In one patient, insulin binding to circulating monocytes was normal, and the insulin-stimulated tyrosine kinase activity of the receptors was normal as well. In separate studies, using cultured Epstein-Barr virus-transformed lymphocytes from the same six patients with type A extreme insulin resistance, the results were similar, in that the functions of the alpha- and beta-subunits of the receptor from these cells correlated. Though heterogeneity among the six patients with type A extreme insulin resistance at the level of the kinase activity of their insulin receptors was demonstrated, it does not appear that a selective defect in beta-subunit phosphorylation per se can be implicated in the mechanisms of insulin resistance of these patients. These findings are distinct from our previously reported patient with normal binding and very low insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of the beta-subunit of the receptor of circulating monocytes, in whom it was speculated that selective reduction in beta-subunit phosphorylation was responsible for insulin resistance.