Ms. Matsui et al., ULTRAVIOLET-RADIATION-B INDUCES DIFFERENTIATION AND PROTEIN-KINASE-C IN NORMAL HUMAN EPIDERMAL-KERATINOCYTES, Photodermatology, photoimmunology & photomedicine, 12(3), 1996, pp. 103-108
Mid-wave ultraviolet radiation (UVB, 280-320 nm) is highly efficient a
t inducing erythema, pyrimidine dimers in DNA, oncogene expression and
initiation of cutaneous tumors. These UVB-induced responses of epider
mal cells have been correlated with the direct effects of UVB on DNA.
However, UVB has also been shown to have biologic effects at the cellu
lar level that appear to mimic some of the membrane-associated effects
produced by phorbol ester tumor promoters such as 12-O-tetradecanoyl
phorbol-13-acetate (TPA). For example, we have previously shown that b
oth UVB irradiation and TPA treatment are followed by release of arach
idonic acid and a rapid, dose-dependent inhibition of epidermal growth
factor (EGF) binding. TPA generates cellular responses through activa
tion of a phospholipid-dependent, calcium-sensitive protein kinase, pr
otein kinase C (PKC). The primary goal of the studies described here w
as to compare the cellular effects of TPA with those of UVB with speci
al regard to PKC and keratinocyte growth control, using normal human e
pidermal keratinocytes. The results obtained showed that both TPA and
UVB radiation induced differentiation in normal human keratinocytes. U
VB radiation, however, increased both cytosolic and membrane-associate
d levels of PKC, in contrast to TPA, which increased PKC primarily in
the membrane fraction. PKC is probably not the initial chromophore or
target molecule of UVB, but because activation of PKC has been shown t
o be essential for keratinocyte differentiation, differentiation induc
ed by UVB may be caused by activation of PKC by UVB-induced release of
diacylglycerol or arachidonic acid.