Cutis laxa is an uncommon connective tissue disorder affecting the elastin fibers leading to lax and pendulous skin and in generalized form can present with systemic involvement.
The results of the present study indicate that PKCε, activated by DCP-LA, increases elastin and fibulin-5/DANCE in the extracellular space of cultured fibroblasts by the mechanism independent of transcriptional and translational modulation or inhibition of elastolysis.
These proteins included several important ECM components, periostin (POSTN), elastin (ELN), and decorin (DCN); genetic mutations in these proteins are associated with different phenotypes of aging, such as cutis laxa and joint and dermal manifestations.
The 'Vitamin K deficit and elastolysis theory' posits that elastin degradation causes a rise in the vitamin K deficit and implies that vitamin K supplementation could be preventing elastin degradation.
To investigate the pathophysiology underlying a class of elastin gene mutations leading to autosomal dominant cutis laxa, we engineered a cutis laxa mutation (single base deletion) into the human elastin gene contained in a bacterial artificial chromosome.
This study investigates the expression profiles of genes responsible for the elastolysis in the dissected human aorta, especially those coding fibulin-1, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and elastin.
To investigate the molecular mechanisms leading to cutis laxa in vivo, we generated transgenic mice by pronuclear injection of minigenes encoding normal human tropoelastin (WT) or tropoelastin with a cutis laxa mutation (CL).
An autosomal-recessive form of cutis laxa is due to homozygous elastin mutations, and the phenotype may be modified by a heterozygous fibulin 5 polymorphism.
Diseases linked to the elastin gene arise from loss-of-function mutations leading to protein insufficiency (supravalvular aortic stenosis) or from missense mutations that alter the properties of the elastin protein (dominant cutis laxa).
This article is the fourth report of autosomal dominant cutis laxa to appear in the literature in which a mutation in the elastin gene has been correlated with the disease.
The results demonstrate that a heterozygous mutation in fibulin-5 can cause cutis laxa and also suggest that fibulin-5 and elastin gene mutations are not the exclusive cause of the disease.
The abnormal synthetic repertoire of these morphologically abnormal smooth muscle cells in early vascular lesions included elastin, among other matrix elements, and matrix metalloproteinase 9, a known mediator of elastolysis.
In Northern blot analysis of cultured dermal fibroblasts, elastin mRNA levels were reduced, suggesting a decrease in elastin production at the lesions of loose skin.
These two dominant-acting, apparently de novo mutations in the elastin gene appear to be responsible for qualitative and quantitative defects in elastin, resulting in the cutis laxa phenotype.