Altered regulation of growth and expression of differentiation-associated keratins in benign mouse skin tumors.

Alterations in the pattern of epidermal cell differentiation and proliferation in mouse skin and benign skin tumors were studied by two-color immunofluorescence using monospecific antibodies. Replicating cells were identified by 5-bromo-deoxyuridine (BrdU) pulse-labeling and differentiating cells by keratins K1 and K10. In normal mouse skin, pulse-chase experiments for 120 h revealed that replication was restricted to a single layer of basal cells. Replicating cells did not express K1 or K10, but these keratins were sequentially expressed in post-mitotic basal cells 18 and 24 h following DNA synthesis respectively, and cells expressing these keratins migrated into the suprabasal layers. In phorbol-ester- or cantharidin-stimulated hyperplastic skin, replicating cells were also confined to the basal cell compartment and suprabasal cells expressed keratins 1 and 10. In papillomas induced by initiation with 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene and promotion with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, replication occurred predominantly in cells in an expanded basal cell compartment (two to four layers above the basement membrane). Cells in these basal layers did not express K1 or K10, but more superficial cells did. After a 1 h pulse of BrdU, replication was also identified in suprabasal cells expressing the differentiation-associated keratins. These and other results suggest that benign tumor cells escape the obligatory growth arrest associated with differentiation. Replication of K1- and K10-expressing suprabasal cells may represent an early alteration during mouse skin carcinogenesis.