Involucrin expression in keratinization disorders of the skin—a preliminary study

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Abstract
We have studied the expression of involucrin in a variety of keratinization disorders, mostly of genetic origin using an avidin-biotin-peroxidase technique. In normal human epidermis 25% of the living epidermis was labelled. The diseases studied fell into two groups. Diseases with greatly increased involucrin staining including collodion baby (38%), Darier''s disease (49%), Flegel''s disease (56%), erythrokeratoderma variabilis (60%), epidermal naevus with epidermolytic hyperkeratosis (45%) and congential bullous (58%) and non-bullous (44%) ichythyosiform erythroderma; and diseases with normal or slightly increased staining, including ichthyosis vulgaris (27%), X-linked ichthyosis (25%), confluent and reticulate papillomatosis (27%) and simple epidermal naevus (28%). These results demonstrate that involucrin expression is altered in some keratinization disorders and suggest that in such conditions cellular functions other than keratin metabolism are also affected.