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Tight junctions form a barrier in human epidermis

2010; Elsevier BV; Volume: 89; Issue: 11 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.ejcb.2010.07.010

1618-1298

Nina Kirschner, Pia Houdek, Michael Fromm, Ingrid Moll, Johanna M. Brandner,

Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancer

Tight junctions (TJ) are cell–cell junctions that have proved to form a paracellular barrier for solutes and water between cells of epithelia, including the stratum granulosum of the stratified epithelium of the epidermis of newborn mice. In mice lacking claudin-1, a major barrier-forming TJ component, this barrier was abolished. However, the role of TJ in human skin is controversially discussed as unambiguous data were missing so far. Here, we investigated TJ barrier function in healthy human skin as well as in skin samples from psoriatic lesions which are characterized by an altered localization of TJ proteins. We demonstrate for human skin that occludin- and claudin-1-positive sites in the stratum granulosum form a barrier for extracellular biotin-SH (557 Da) and that in psoriatic skin the localization of the barrier and the TJ proteins are altered in parallel.