KLK5 and KLK7 Ablation Fully Rescues Lethality of Netherton Syndrome-Like Phenotype

PLoS Genet. 2017 Jan 17;13(1):e1006566. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006566. eCollection 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Netherton syndrome (NS) is a severe skin disease caused by the loss of protease inhibitor LEKTI, which leads to the dysregulation of epidermal proteases and severe skin-barrier defects. KLK5 was proposed as a major protease in NS pathology, however its inactivation is not sufficient to rescue the lethal phenotype of LEKTI-deficient mice. In this study, we further elucidated the in vivo roles of the epidermal proteases in NS using a set of mouse models individually or simultaneously deficient for KLK5 and KLK7 on the genetic background of a novel NS-mouse model. We show that although the ablation of KLK5 or KLK7 is not sufficient to rescue the lethal effect of LEKTI-deficiency simultaneous deficiency of both KLKs completely rescues the epidermal barrier and the postnatal lethality allowing mice to reach adulthood with fully functional skin and normal hair growth. We report that not only KLK5 but also KLK7 plays an important role in the inflammation and defective differentiation in NS and KLK7 activity is not solely dependent on activation by KLK5. Altogether, these findings show that unregulated activities of KLK5 and KLK7 are responsible for NS development and both proteases should become targets for NS therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Gene Deletion
  • Kallikreins / genetics*
  • Mice
  • Netherton Syndrome / genetics*
  • Netherton Syndrome / pathology
  • Phenotype*
  • Serine Peptidase Inhibitor Kazal-Type 5
  • Serpins / genetics

Substances

  • Serine Peptidase Inhibitor Kazal-Type 5
  • Serpins
  • Spink5 protein, mouse
  • Kallikreins
  • Klk5 protein, mouse
  • Klk7 protein, mouse

Grants and funding

Financial support was given to RS by Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (RVO 68378050), to RS and OB by Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic (BIOCEV-CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0109, LQ1604 NPU II, LM2011032, LO1509, and Operational Program Prague-Competitiveness project CZ.2.16/3.1.00/24023) and to PK by the Grant Agency of Charles University (GAUK-641212). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.