Although the ability of UV irradiation to induce pigmentation in vivo and in vitro is well documented, the intracellular signals that trigger this response are poorly understood. We have recently shown that increasing DNA repair after irradiation enhances UV-induced melanization. Moreover, addition of small DNA fragments, particularly thymine dinucleotides (pTpT), selected to mimic sequences excised during the repair of UV-induced DNA photoproducts, to unirradiated pigment cells in vitro or to guinea pig skin The prokaryotic response to UV irradiation, the so-called SOS response, is well documented and is now known to include the induction of a set of >20 genes involved in DNA repair and cell survival (reviewed in ref. 1). In this case, the single-stranded DNA generated after UV irradiation interacts with and activates a protease, the Rec A protein (2). Activated Rec A protein then cleaves and inactivates the repressors of specific genes, leading to their induction (2).In eukaryotic cells, the existence of a UV-induced DNA damage-responsive SOS-like system mediated by one common transcription regulator has been the subject of considerable controversy. Although a variety of genes are known to be induced by DNA damage (3-6), many of these genes are also induced by agents such as phorbol esters (3, 7) and by metabolic or oxidative stress (8-10). Because UV irradiation is reported, like phorbol esters, to activate protein kinase C directly (11,12) and to produce oxidative damage through generation of free radicals from membrane lipids and otherThe publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. extranuclear cellular constituents, it cannot be determined whether the effects of UV are due directly to DNA damage or instead to other impacts on the cell. Indeed, two of the major UV-induced transcription factors, AP-1 and NF-KB, are now thought to initiate their responses at or near the plasma membrane (13,14).Perhaps the best-characterized example of DNA damagespecific gene induction involves a DNA repair enzyme, photolyase, encoded by the PHR1 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (6). This gene is induced by a variety of DNA-damaging agents including UV light, methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) and 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4-NQO). Up-regulation of PHR1 gene transcription is, at least in part, accomplished by the removal of a damage-responsive repressor which binds to a specific site in the 5' region of the gene (15).Another well-studied UV and DNA damage-inducible gene is the mammalian GADD45 gene. This gene is transcriptionally activated not only by UV irradiation but also by ionizing radiation and chemical agents that specifically cause base damage (10, 16). The induction of GADD45 by ionizing radiation is mediated by the p53 tumor suppressor protein and the ataxia telangiectasia gene product (17), but the UV-and base-damage responses are less well understood. ...

Although human epidermis contains levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1) up to 100 times higher than other tissues, the role of this cytokine in epidermal biology is unknown. Here, we show that interleukin-1 regulates the expression of mRNAs for two proteins associated with the differentiated phenotype of human keratinocytes, cellular retinoic acid-binding protein type II (CRABP II) and small, proline rich protein 1 (SPRR1). The ability of IL-1 to induce these transcripts correlates directly with keratinocyte expression of the IL-1 receptor type I (IL-1 RI) during differentiation and inversely with the expression of the type II IL-1 receptor (IL-1 RII), shown in other cell types to be a nonfunctional, decoy receptor. Furthermore, addition to keratinocyte cultures of an IL-1 RI-blocking, but not an IL-1 RII-blocking, antibody reduces the levels of CRABP II and SPRR1 mRNAs in these cells. These data suggest that epidermal IL-1 functions to promote keratinocyte differentiation and that a change in the IL-1 receptor profile of these cells initiates this IL-1 response through a relative enhanced expression of functional IL-1 receptors.

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