STAT3 signaling is a key element that regulates keratinocyte differentiation. The JAK inhibitor can be a new therapeutic tool for the treatment of disrupted barrier function in patients with AD.

Recent studies have revealed that the redox-sensitive glycolytic enzyme, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), is involved in neuronal cell death that is triggered by oxidative stress. GAPDH is locally deposited in disulfidebonded aggregates at lesion sites in certain neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism that underlies oxidative stress-induced aggregation of GAPDH and the relationship between structural abnormalities in GAPDH and cell death. Under nonreducing in vitro conditions, oxidants induced oligomerization and insoluble aggregation of GAPDH via the formation of intermolecular disulfide bonds. Because GAPDH has four cysteine residues, including the active site Cys 149 , we prepared the cysteine-substituted mutants C149S, C153S, C244A, C281S, and C149S/C281S to identify which is responsible for disulfide-bonded aggregation. Whereas the aggregation levels of C281S were reduced compared with the wild-type enzyme, neither C149S nor C149S/C281S aggregated, suggesting that the active site cysteine plays an essential role. Oxidants also caused conformational changes in GAPDH concomitant with an increase in ␤-sheet content; these abnormal conformations specifically led to amyloid-like fibril formation via disulfide bonds, including Cys 149 . Additionally, continuous exposure of GAPDH-overexpressing HeLa cells to oxidants produced disulfide bonds in GAPDH leading to both detergent-insoluble and thioflavin-S-positive aggregates, which were associated with oxidative stress-induced cell death. Thus, oxidative stresses induce amyloid-like aggregation of GAPDH via aberrant disulfide bonds of the active site cysteine, and the formation of such abnormal aggregates promotes cell death.In both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH 2 ; EC 1.2.1.12) plays a central role in glycolysis, catalyzing the reversible conversion of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate to 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate in a reaction that is accompanied by the reduction of NAD ϩ to NADH. Mammalian GAPDH is a homotetramer composed of four identical subunits. Recent studies show that mammalian GAPDH has diverse activities unrelated to its glycolytic function (1, 2), including roles in membrane fusion, microtubule bundling, nuclear RNA transport (2), regulation of Ca 2ϩ homeostasis (3), and transcription (4). In addition to the various functions of GAPDH described above, particular attention is paid to its role in apoptosis (5-7). Although the proapoptotic role(s) of GAPDH seems to depend upon its accumulation in the particulate fractions, including the nucleus (5, 7), the detailed mechanism is still unclear.Recently, it has been suggested that a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the accumulation of intracellular and extracellular protein aggregates (8,9). An initializing event in protein aggregation is thought to be the formation of an abnormal oligomer. For instance, ␤-amyloid and ␣-synuclein undergo conformational changes in Alzheimer disea...

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH)2 is a classic glycolytic enzyme that also mediates cell death by its nuclear translocation under oxidative stress. Meanwhile, we previously presented that oxidative stress induced disulfide-bonded GAPDH aggregation in vitro. Here, we propose that GAPDH aggregate formation might participate in oxidative stress-induced cell death both in vitro and in vivo. We show that human GAPDH amyloidlike aggregate formation depends on the active site cysteine-152 (Cys-152) in vitro. In SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma, treatment with dopamine decreases the cell viability concentration-dependently (IC 50 ‫؍‬ 202 M). Low concentrations of dopamine (50 -100 M) mainly cause nuclear translocation of GAPDH, whereas the levels of GAPDH aggregates correlate with high concentrations of dopamine (200 -300 M)-induced cell death. Doxycycline-inducible overexpression of wild-type GAPDH in SH-SY5Y, but not the Cys-152-substituted mutant (C152A-GAPDH), accelerates cell death accompanying both endogenous and exogenous GAPDH aggregate formation in response to high concentrations of dopamine. Deprenyl, a blocker of GAPDH nuclear translocation, fails to inhibit the aggregation both in vitro and in cells but reduced cell death in SH-SY5Y treated with only a low concentration of dopamine (100 M). These results suggest that GAPDH participates in oxidative stress-induced cell death via an alternative mechanism in which aggregation but not nuclear translocation of GAPDH plays a role. Moreover, we observe endogenous GAPDH aggregate formation in nigra-striatum dopaminergic neurons after methamphetamine treatment in mice. In transgenic mice overexpressing wildtype GAPDH, increased dopaminergic neuron loss and GAPDH aggregate formation are observed. These data suggest a critical role of GAPDH aggregates in oxidative stress-induced brain damage.Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is a classic glycolytic enzyme that is also involved in cell death and neuropsychiatric conditions (1, 2). GAPDH mediates cell death under oxidative stress conditions at least in part through nuclear translocation together with Siah (3). In the nucleus, GAPDH activates p300/CBP and regulates gene transcription (4). The pathway can be blocked by deprenyl (Selegiline), a neuroprotective compound (5). Although nuclear translocation of GAPDH is known to cause cell death, other mechanisms of GAPDH-associated cell death may also exist.Several neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the accumulation of misfolded proteins, resulting in intracellular and extracellular protein aggregates (6, 7). For instance, conformational changes in ␤-amyloid (A␤) in Alzheimer disease and ␣-synuclein in Parkinson disease lead to the formation of abnormal oligomers and amyloid fibrils (8). Similar to A␤ and ␣-synuclein, GAPDH is also amyloidogenic (9 -14). We previously reported the molecular mechanism underlying oxidative stressinduced amyloid-like aggregation of GAPDH using the purified rabbit GAPDH and demonstrated the critical role of the act...

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is generally regarded as a type 2 helper T (Th2)-mediated inflammatory skin disease. Although the number of IL-17A-producing cells is increased in the peripheral blood and in acute skin lesion of AD patients, the role of IL-17A in the pathogenesis of AD remains unclear. To clarify this issue, we used murine AD models in an IL-17A-deficient condition. In a repeated hapten application-induced AD model, skin inflammation, IL-4 production in the draining lymph nodes (LNs), and hapten-specific IgG1 and IgE induction were suppressed in IL-17A-deficient mice. Vγ4(+) γδ T cells in the skin-draining LNs and Vγ5(-) dermal γδ T cells in the skin were the major sources of IL-17A. Consistently, in flaky-tail (Flg(ft/ft) ma/ma) mice, spontaneous development of AD-like dermatitis and IgE induction were attenuated by IL-17A deficiency. Moreover, Th2 differentiation from naive T cells was promoted in vitro by the addition of IL-17A. Taken together, our results suggest that IL-17A mediates Th2-type immune responses and that IL-17A signal may be a therapeutic target of AD.