Our skin–the body's largest organ–provides the first line of defense against infections and many other threats to our health. Decades of research has shown that a wide range of diseases can occur, or become worse, when the skin cannot form an effective barrier. Now, experts in human genetics and asthma research at Cincinnati Children's report discovering a novel molecular signaling pathway that plays a crucial role in maintaining our skin barrier.
The far-reaching findings eventually may lead to new ways to prevent and treat inflammatory skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis (AD, or eczema) and psoriasis. The study was published online Aug. 6, 2024, in Cell Reports .
The team of 22 co-authors was led by first author Stanley DeVore, PhD, and corresponding author Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD. Our research discovered a previously unknown cellular pathway involving the protein CARD14. When this protein works properly, it keeps our skin barrier healthy, but when CARD14 is not working properly, it promotes the development of skin disease.
We found that CARD14 directly binds and regulates MYC, a protein involved in controlling cell growth that can contribute to cancer when it malfunctions. Our study shows that the proper interaction between these two proteins is important for a healthy skin barrier and protecting against eczema and psoriasis. Additionally, given the association of MYC with cancer, our findings also suggest that dysfunctional CARD14-MYC signaling may contrib.