IKKα Is Required to Maintain Skin Homeostasis and Prevent Skin Cancer

It has long been known that excessive mitotic activity due to H-Ras can block keratinocyte differentiation and cause skin cancer. It is not clear, however, whether there are any innate surveillants that ensure keratinocytes undergoing terminal differentiation, preventing the disease. IKKα induces keratinocyte terminal differentiation and its reduction promotes skin tumor development. However, its nature function in skin cancer is unknown. Here we found that mice with IKKα deletion in keratinocytes or in hair follicle keratinocytes developed a thickened epidermis and spontaneous squamous cell-like carcinomas. Inactivation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or reintroduction of IKKα inhibited excessive mitosis, induced terminal differentiation, and prevented skin cancer through an EGFR-driven autocrine loop in mice. Thus, IKKα serves as an innate surveillant. The differences in gene expression profiles of CHUK deleted mouse keratinocytes compared to wild type mouse keratinocytes were analyzed using two dual-channel agilent microarrays in duplicates.