SummaryThe multilayered epidermis is established through a stratification program, which is accompanied by a shift from symmetric toward asymmetric divisions (ACD), a process under tight control of the transcription factor p63. However, the physiological signals regulating p63 activity in epidermal morphogenesis remain ill defined. Here, we reveal a role for insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) in the regulation of p63 activity. Loss of epidermal IIS leads to a biased loss of ACD, resulting in impaired stratification. Upon loss of IIS, FoxO transcription factors are retained in the nucleus, where they bind and inhibit p63-regulated transcription. This is reversed by small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of FoxOs. Accordingly, transgenic expression of a constitutive nuclear FoxO variant in the epidermis abrogates ACD and inhibits p63-regulated transcription and stratification. Collectively, the present study reveals a critical role for IIS-dependent control of p63 activity in coordination of ACD and stratification during epithelial morphogenesis.

Myeloid cells are key regulators of tissue homeostasis and disease. Alterations in cell-autonomous Insulin/IGF-1 signaling in myeloid cells have recently been implicated in the development of systemic inflammation and insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM). Impaired wound healing and inflammatory skin diseases are frequent DM-associated skin pathologies, yet the underlying mechanisms are elusive. Here we investigated whether myeloid cell-restricted IR/IGF-1R signalling provides a pathophysiological link between systemic insulin resistance and the development of cutaneous inflammation. Therefore, we generated mice lacking both the Insulin and IGF-1 receptor in myeloid cells (IR/IGF-1RMKO). Whereas the kinetics of wound closure following acute skin injury was similar in control and IR/IGF-1RMKO mice, in two different conditions of dermatitis either induced by repetitive topical applications of the detergent SDS or by high-dose UVB radiation, IR/IGF-1RMKO mice were protected from inflammation, whereas controls developed severe skin dermatitis. Notably, whereas during the early phase in both inflammatory conditions the induction of epidermal pro-inflammatory cytokine expression was similar in control and IR/IGF-1RMKO mice, during the late stage, epidermal cytokine expression was sustained in controls, however virtually abrogated in IR/IGF-1RMKO mice. This distinct kinetic of epidermal cytokine expression was paralleled by pro-inflammatory macrophage activation in controls and a non-inflammatory phenotype in mutants. Collectively, our findings provide evidence for a pro-inflammatory IR/IGF-1R-dependent pathway in myeloid cells that plays a critical role in the dynamics of an epidermal-dermal crosstalk in cutaneous inflammatory responses, and may add to the mechanistic understanding of diseases associated with disturbances in myeloid cell IR/IGF-1R signaling including DM.

This study provides a solid rationale for the stratification of lung adenocarcinoma patients according to the functional ERCC1- and mutational TP53 status, where functionally ERCC1-incompetent patients could benefit from sequential cisplatin and etoposide chemotherapy. Mol Cancer Res; 14(11); 1110-23. ©2016 AACR.