Kallikrein-related peptidases KLK5, KLK7 and KLK14 are important proteases in skin desquamation and aberrant KLK activity is associated with inflammatory skin diseases such as Netherton syndrome but also with various serious forms of cancer.
Altogether, these findings show that unregulated activities of KLK5 and KLK7 are responsible for NS development and both proteases should become targets for NS therapy.
SPINK5 knockdown in organotypic human skin culture as a model system for Netherton syndrome: effect of genetic inhibition of serine proteases kallikrein 5 and kallikrein 7.
Several proteases are overactive in NS, including kallikrein-related peptidase (KLK) 5, KLK7, and elastase-2 (ELA2), which are suggested to be part of a proteolytic cascade initiated by KLK5.
In vitro and in vivo studies in murine models and in NS patients have cast light on the pathogenesis of the disease and shown that LEKTI deficiency results in unopposed kallikrein-related peptidase 5 (KLK5) and KLK7 activities and to the overactivity of a new epidermal protease, elastase 2 (ELA2).