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C/EBPα and β couple interfollicular keratinocyte proliferation arrest to commitment and terminal differentiation

Nature Cell Biology volume 11, pages 1181–1190 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The transcriptional regulators that couple interfollicular basal keratinocyte proliferation arrest to commitment and differentiation are yet to be identified. Here we report that the basic region leucine zipper transcription factors C/EBPα and C/EBPβ are co-expressed in basal keratinocytes, and are coordinately upregulated as keratinocytes exit the basal layer and undergo terminal differentiation. Mice lacking both C/EBPα and β in the epidermis showed increased proliferation of basal keratinocytes and impaired commitment to differentiation. This led to ectopic expression of keratin 14 (K14) and ΔNp63 in suprabasal cells, decreased expression of spinous and granular layer proteins, parakeratosis and defective epidermal water barrier function. Knock-in mutagenesis revealed that C/EBP-E2F interaction was required for control of interfollicular epidermis (IFE) keratinocyte proliferation, but not for induction of spinous and granular layer markers, whereas C/EBP DNA binding was required for ΔNp63 downregulation and K1/K10 induction. Finally, loss of C/EBPα/β induced stem cell gene expression signatures in the epidermis. C/EBPs, therefore, couple basal keratinocyte cell cycle exit to commitment to differentiation through E2F repression and DNA binding, respectively, and may act to restrict the epidermal stem cell compartment.

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Figure 1: C/EBPα–TAP and C/EBPβ–TAP knock-in reveals the expression pattern of C/EBPα and C/EBPβ transcription factors in newborn epidermis.
Figure 2: C/EBPα;C/EBPβ epidermis conditional knockout mice show in-to-out skin barrier dysfunction and die perinatally.
Figure 3: Differentiation defects in C/EBPα/C/EBPβ EDKO newborn pups.
Figure 4: EDKO epidermis is hyperproliferative.
Figure 5: Genetic analysis of C/EBPα functions required for keratinocyte differentiation.
Figure 6: Regulation of gene expression and proliferation by specific C/EBP functional domains.
Figure 7: C/EBPα/β restrict stem cell gene signatures.
Figure 8: C/EBPα and β induce NFATc1-mediated HF stem cell quiescence.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Commission (EuroStemCell integrated project, EuroCSC STREP). R.L. was the recipient of a Marie Curie Fellowship; S.G. was supported by a fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Research; O.B. was supported by an HFSP postdoctoral fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EMBL Mouse Biology Unit, Monterotondo, 00016, Italy

    Rodolphe G. Lopez, Susana Garcia-Silva, Susan J. Moore, Oksana Bereshchenko, Olga Ermakova, Elke Kurz & Claus Nerlov

  2. Molecular Oncology Unit, CIEMAT, Madrid, 28040, Spain

    Ana B. Martinez-Cruz & Jesus M. Paramio

  3. Institute for Stem Cell Research and MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK

    Claus Nerlov

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Contributions

R.L. J.P. and C.N. designed experiments; R.L. performed analysis; S.G. performed biochemical characterization of KK and C/EBP-TAP knock-ins, R.L., O.B. and O.E. generated mouse lines; S.M. performed bioinformatics analysis; A.B.M.-C. and E.K. provided technical assistance; R.L. and C.N. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Claus Nerlov.

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Lopez, R., Garcia-Silva, S., Moore, S. et al. C/EBPα and β couple interfollicular keratinocyte proliferation arrest to commitment and terminal differentiation. Nat Cell Biol 11, 1181–1190 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1960

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