Keratins represent important structural components of intermediate filament proteins. Their expression profiles are remarkably tissue-specific. Recent data have shown that keratins associate with many proteins including heat shock proteins (HSP). We recently identified cell-specific keratin and HSP expression. We aimed to gain further insight into the regulation of keratins by specific inhibition through knockdown of Hsp40 in human keratinocyte cells. Keratin-HSP interaction in HaCaT cell lysate was evaluated by immunoprecipitation followed by Western blotting. Immunofluorescence, was used to examine the co-localization of keratins and Hsp40. Hsp40 depletion led to an increase in the levels of keratin proteins (K5, K14, K10) and a decrease in keratin ubiquitination without influencing keratin gene expression. Our results demonstrate direct or indirectly association of Hsp40 and imply that expressed keratin proteins were regulated by Hsp40 depending on the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in HaCaT. Furthermore, the K10 differentiation marker was increased by knockdown of Hsp40. The results presented in this study indicate that Hsp40 is related to the differentiation exchange of keratin pairs.

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