(Verbatim) The human proteins beta catenin and plakoglobin, and the related Drosophila protein Armadillo, have dual roles in keratinocyte cell-cell adhesion and in mediating cellular signaling events. Aberrant regulation of these proteins plays a role in both human cancers and cutaneous autoimmune disease. Beta catenin's signaling function is constitutively activated in a variety of human cancers including colorectal carcinoma and melanoma. In the desmosome, plakoglobin binds desmoglein 3 and 1, the target antigens for autoantibodies produced in the autoimmune blistering diseases pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF), respectively. Since human beta catenin and plakoglobin and Drosophila Armadillo are phosphoproteins, phosphorylation may represent one mechanism by which these proteins are post-translationally regulated. In addition, we have recently identified O-glycosylation as a second post-translational modification of this family of proteins. We have cloned the Drosphila 0-glycosyltransferase (OGT) gene whose protein product is responsible for catalyzing the addition of this modification in vivo; the Drosophila OGT gene is 80 percent identical to the human counterpart. Over expression of this gene in Drosophila provides us with a tool to explore how this new modification affects the in vivo biology of these proteins. Because of the high degree of identity between (1) the Drosophila and human OGTs and (2) Drosophila Armadillo and human beta catenin and plakoglobin, we can directly apply what we learn from genetic and biochemical studies of the fly to human biology. We test what we learn from the fly by biochemical and cell biologic analyses in a normal human keratinocyte tissue culture system. This proposal details our plan to investigate how the cell-cell adhesion and signal transduction functions of human beta catenin and plakoglobin and Drosophila Annadillo are regulated by (1) phosphorylation and (2) O-glycosylation. Once these processes are disclosed, we believe that we may be able to understand the molecular mechanisms of acantholysis in the human autoimmune blistering diseases pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus.
| Runager, Kasper; Bektas, Meryem; Berkowitz, Paula et al. (2014) Targeting O-glycosyltransferase (OGT) to promote healing of diabetic skin wounds. J Biol Chem 289:5462-6 |
| Bektas, Meryem; Jolly, Puneet S; Berkowitz, Paula et al. (2013) A pathophysiologic role for epidermal growth factor receptor in pemphigus acantholysis. J Biol Chem 288:9447-56 |
| Lin, Lan; Betsuyaku, Tomoko; Heimbach, Lisa et al. (2012) Neutrophil elastase cleaves the murine hemidesmosomal protein BP180/type XVII collagen and generates degradation products that modulate experimental bullous pemphigoid. Matrix Biol 31:38-44 |
| Heimbach, Lisa; Li, Zhuowei; Berkowitz, Paula et al. (2011) The C5a receptor on mast cells is critical for the autoimmune skin-blistering disease bullous pemphigoid. J Biol Chem 286:15003-9 |
| Culton, Donna A; Rubenstein, David S; Diaz, Luis A (2010) The resident retreat for future academicians. J Invest Dermatol 130:1775-7 |
| Bektas, Meryem; Rubenstein, David S (2010) What's in a name?: Heat shock protein 27 and keratinocyte differentiation. J Invest Dermatol 130:10-2 |
| Bektas, M; Runager, K; Petersen, J S et al. (2010) Advances in pemphigus research, signaling, and acantholysis. G Ital Dermatol Venereol 145:675-87 |
| Bektas, Meryem; Jolly, Puneet; Rubenstein, David S (2010) Apoptotic pathways in pemphigus. Dermatol Res Pract 2010:456841 |
| Spindler, Volker; Vielmuth, Franziska; Schmidt, Enno et al. (2010) Protective endogenous cyclic adenosine 5'-monophosphate signaling triggered by pemphigus autoantibodies. J Immunol 185:6831-8 |
| Jolly, Puneet S; Berkowitz, Paula; Bektas, Meryem et al. (2010) p38MAPK signaling and desmoglein-3 internalization are linked events in pemphigus acantholysis. J Biol Chem 285:8936-41 |
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