We report a mutation in a mild case of epidermolytic hyperkeratosis that results in a glutamic acid to aspartic acid substitution in a novel location, codon 477 or position 106 of the 2B rod domain of the keratin 1 chain. This residue has been conserved in all intermediate filament chains and lies near the beginning of the highly conserved helix termination sequence and just prior to the predicted molecular overlap region. Keratin filaments assembled in vitro from chains bearing this substitution are abnormal, indicating that the glutamic acid residue is critically involved in ionic interactions in intermediate levels of filament structure.

We report a mutation in a mild case of epidermolytic hyperkeratosis that results in a glutamic acid to aspartic acid substitution in a novel location, codon 477 or position 106 of the 2B rod domain of the keratin 1 chain. This residue has been conserved in all intermediate filament chains and lies near the beginning of the highly conserved helix termination sequence and just prior to the predicted molecular overlap region. Keratin filaments assembled in vitro from chains bearing this substitution are abnormal, indicating that the glutamic acid residue is critically involved in ionic interactions in intermediate levels of filament structure.

Palmoplantar keratodermas (PPK) constitute a heterogeneous group of diseases marked by the thickening of palms and soles of affected individuals. They are divided into autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive groups by the mode of transmission. The autosomal dominantly transmitted group is further divided into epidermolytic (EPPK, Voerner) and non-epidermolytic (NEPPK, Unna-Thost) types according to the histopathologic findings. Recent development of molecular approaches has confirmed that EPPK and NEPPK are caused by the mutations in keratin 9 and 1 genes, respectively. We have studied three families of EPPK to find the mutation in the keratin 9 gene. DNA sequence analyses revealed single base changes in sequences encoding the highly conserved 1A rod domain segment of the keratin 9 gene in two of the three families. These mutations caused Arg (CGG) to Glu (CAG; R162Q) and Arg (CGG) to Try (TGG; R162W) substitutions. The same arginine position has been mutated in the keratin 10 gene in epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, the keratin 14 gene in epidermolysis bullosa simplex, and the keratin 9 gene in hereditary EPPK in Western patients. In this study we show that unrelated Korean patients have similar mutations.