Differential expression of dipeptidyl peptidase IV in human versus cynomolgus monkey skin eccrine sweat glands.

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP4) is a peptidase whose inhibition is beneficial in Type II diabetes treatment. Several evidences suggest potential implication of DPP4 in skin disorders such as psoriasis, keloids and fibrotic skin diseases where its inhibition could also be beneficial. DPP4 expression in human skin was described mainly in dermal fibroblasts and a subset of keratinocytes in the basal layer. Of importance in the perspective of preclinical experimentation, DPP4 distribution in skin of non-human primate species has not been documented. This report evidences unexpected differences between a set of human and cynomolgus monkey skin samples revealing a major expression of DPP4 in eccrine sweat glands of cynomolgus monkeys but not in humans. This represents a unique distinctive feature compared to the conserved expression of dipeptidyl peptidases 8 and 9 and potential relevant DPP4 substrates such as neuropeptide Y (NPY) and receptors (NPY-receptor 1 and Neurokinin receptor). Finally the observation that cathepsin D, an unrelated protease, shows the opposite expression compared to DPP4 (present in human but not in cynomolgus monkey eccrine sweat glands) could indicate that human eccrine sweat glands evolved a divergent protease repertoire compared to non-human primates. These unexpected differences in the eccrine sweat glands protease repertoire will need to be confirmed extending the analysis to a major number of donors but could imply possible biochemical divergences, reflecting the functional evolution of the glands and the control of their activity. Our findings also demonstrate that non-human primates studies aiming at understanding DPP4 function in skin biology are not readily translatable to human.