In a skin equivalent HaCaT cells have a preserved capacity to receive melanosomes but melanocytes do not remain in the basal location

The expression of the calmodulin-like skin protein, a recently discovered new skin-specific calcium binding protein, was studied in cultured keratinocytes, reconstructed human epidermis, and normal human skin. Using a calmodulin-like skin protein specific polyclonal antibody and Western blot analysis we could show that in cultured keratinocytes calmodulin-like skin protein expression is strongly induced after stimulating cell differentiation by increasing the medium calcium concentration. Known modulators of epidermal differentiation such as sodium butyrate and the synthetic retinoid CD 367 strongly affected calmodulin-like skin protein expression. A more than 10-fold increase was observed in the presence of sodium butyrate, whereas CD 367 abolished almost completely calmodulin-like skin protein expression already at nanomolar concentrations. Calmodulin, another calcium binding protein that is expressed throughout the living layers of the epidermis, is not affected by these modulators. In normal human skin, calmodulin-like skin protein expression is restricted to the stratum granulosum and the lower layers of the stratum corneum. From these results we conclude that calmodulin-like skin protein is a new marker of late keratinocyte differentiation with a role distinct from calmodulin.