Emerging issues with the current keratin-associated protein nomenclature.

Keratin associated proteins (KAPs) are a class of proteins that associate with keratin intermediate filament proteins through disulphide linkages to give fibres such as hair and wool their unique properties. Up to 90 proteins from some 25 families have been identified and this does not include polymorphic variants of individual proteins within these families. The existence of this diverse group of proteins has been known for some 75 years but, despite this, there is still no universally accepted nomenclature for them.