Mutant Ras and inflammation-driven skin tumorigenesis is suppressed via a JNK-iASPP-AP1 axis.

Concurrent mutation of a RAS oncogene and the tumor suppressor p53 is common in tumorigenesis, and inflammation can promote RAS-driven tumorigenesis without the need to mutate p53. Here, we show, using a well-established mutant RAS and an inflammation-driven mouse skin tumor model, that loss of the p53 inhibitor iASPP facilitates tumorigenesis. Specifically, iASPP regulates expression of a subset of p63 and AP1 targets, including genes involved in skin differentiation and inflammation, suggesting that loss of iASPP in keratinocytes supports a tumor-promoting inflammatory microenvironment.

Mutant p63 Affects Epidermal Cell Identity through Rewiring the Enhancer Landscape.

Transcription factor p63 is a key regulator of epidermal keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation. Mutations in the p63 DNA-binding domain are associated with ectrodactyly, ectodermal dysplasia, and cleft lip/palate (EEC) syndrome. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of these mutations remains unclear.

p63 exerts spatio-temporal control of palatal epithelial cell fate to prevent cleft palate.

Cleft palate is a common congenital disorder that affects up to 1 in 2500 live births and results in considerable morbidity to affected individuals and their families. The aetiology of cleft palate is complex with both genetic and environmental factors implicated. Mutations in the transcription factor p63 are one of the major individual causes of cleft palate; however, the gene regulatory networks in which p63 functions remain only partially characterized.

Genome-wide p63-regulated gene expression in differentiating epidermal keratinocytes.

The transcription factor p63 is a key regulator in epidermal keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation. However, the role of p63 in gene regulation during these processes is not well understood. To investigate this, we recently generated genome-wide profiles of gene expression, p63 binding sites and active regulatory regions with the H3K27ac histone mark (Kouwenhoven et al.

Transcription factor p63 bookmarks and regulates dynamic enhancers during epidermal differentiation.

The transcription factor p63 plays a pivotal role in keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation in the epidermis. However, how p63 regulates epidermal genes during differentiation is not yet clear. Using epigenome profiling of differentiating human primary epidermal keratinocytes, we characterized a catalog of dynamically regulated genes and p63-bound regulatory elements that are relevant for epithelial development and related diseases.

Gene regulatory mechanisms orchestrated by p63 in epithelial development and related disorders.

The transcription factor p63 belongs to the p53 family and is a key regulator in epithelial commitment and development. Mutations in p63 give rise to several epithelial related disorders with defects in skin, limb and orofacial structures. Since the discovery of p63, efforts have been made to identify its target genes using individual gene approaches and to understand p63 function in normal epithelial development and related diseases.

An etiologic regulatory mutation in IRF6 with loss- and gain-of-function effects.

DNA variation in Interferon Regulatory Factor 6 (IRF6) causes Van der Woude syndrome (VWS), the most common syndromic form of cleft lip and palate (CLP). However, an etiologic variant in IRF6 has been found in only 70% of VWS families. To test whether DNA variants in regulatory elements cause VWS, we sequenced three conserved elements near IRF6 in 70 VWS families that lack an etiologic mutation within IRF6 exons.

De novo mutations in the genome organizer CTCF cause intellectual disability.

An increasing number of genes involved in chromatin structure and epigenetic regulation has been implicated in a variety of developmental disorders, often including intellectual disability. By trio exome sequencing and subsequent mutational screening we now identified two de novo frameshift mutations and one de novo missense mutation in CTCF in individuals with intellectual disability, microcephaly, and growth retardation. Furthermore, an individual with a larger deletion including CTCF was identified.

The contribution of the nonhomologous region of Prs1 to the maintenance of cell wall integrity and cell viability.

The gene products of the five-membered PRS gene family in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been shown to exist as three minimal functional entities, Prs1/Prs3, Prs2/Prs5, and Prs4/Prs5, each capable of supporting cell viability. The Prs1/Prs3 heterodimer can be regarded as the most important because its loss causes temperature sensitivity. It has been shown that the GFP signal generated by an integrated GFP-Prs1 construct is lost in the absence of Prs3.

APR-246/PRIMA-1(MET) rescues epidermal differentiation in skin keratinocytes derived from EEC syndrome patients with p63 mutations.

p53 and p63 share extensive sequence and structure homology. p53 is frequently mutated in cancer, whereas mutations in p63 cause developmental disorders manifested in ectodermal dysplasia, limb defects, and orofacial clefting. We have established primary adult skin keratinocytes from ectrodactyly, ectodermal dysplasia, and cleft lip/palate (EEC) syndrome patients with p63 mutations as an in vitro human model to study the disease mechanism in the skin of EEC patients.

Genome-wide profiling of p63 DNA-binding sites identifies an element that regulates gene expression during limb development in the 7q21 SHFM1 locus.

Heterozygous mutations in p63 are associated with split hand/foot malformations (SHFM), orofacial clefting, and ectodermal abnormalities. Elucidation of the p63 gene network that includes target genes and regulatory elements may reveal new genes for other malformation disorders. We performed genome-wide DNA-binding profiling by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) in primary human keratinocytes, and identified potential target genes and regulatory elements controlled by p63.

Cooperation between the transcription factors p63 and IRF6 is essential to prevent cleft palate in mice.

Cleft palate is a common congenital disorder that affects up to 1 in 2,500 live human births and results in considerable morbidity to affected individuals and their families. The etiology of cleft palate is complex, with both genetic and environmental factors implicated. Mutations in the transcription factor-encoding genes p63 and interferon regulatory factor 6 (IRF6) have individually been identified as causes of cleft palate; however, a relationship between the key transcription factors p63 and IRF6 has not been determined.

Cloning, sequence analysis and phylogeny of connexin43 isolated from American black bear heart.

Conduction in the heart requires gap junctions. In mammalian ventricular myocytes these consist of connexin43 (Cx43). Hearts of non-hibernating species display conduction disturbances at reduced temperatures.