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Research article2011Peer reviewedOpen access

Dual Targets for Mouse Mast Cell Protease-4 in Mediating Tissue Damage in Experimental Bullous Pemphigoid

Lin, Lan; Bankaitis, Eric; Heimbach, Lisa; Li, Ning; Åbrink, Magnus; Pejler, Gunnar; An, Lijia; Diaz, Luis A.; Werb, Zena; Liu, Zhi

Abstract

Mouse mast cell protease-4 (mMCP-4) has been linked to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, although the exact mechanisms underlying its role in these pathological conditions remain unclear. Here, we have found that mMCP-4 is critical in a mouse model of the autoimmune skin blistering disease bullous pemphigoid (BP). Mice lacking mMCP-4 were resistant to experimental BP. Complement activation, mast cell (MC) degranulation, and the early phase of neutrophil (PMN) recruitment occurred comparably in mMCP-4(-/-) and WT mice. However, without mMCP-4, activation of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 was impaired in cultured mMCP-4(-/-) MCs and in the skin of pathogenic IgG-injected mMCP-4(-/-) mice. MMP-9 activation was not fully restored by local reconstitution with WT or mMCP-4(-/-) PMNs. Local reconstitution with mMCP-4(-/-) MCs, but not with mMCP-4(-/-) MCs, restored blistering, MMP-9 activation, and PMN recruitment in mMCP-4(-/-) mice. mMCP-4 also degraded the hemidesmosomal transmembrane protein BP180 both in the skin and in vitro. These results demonstrate that mMCP-4 plays two different roles in the pathogenesis of experimental BP, by both activating MMP-9 and by cleaving BP180, leading to injury of the hemidesmosomes and extracellular matrix of the basement membrane zone.

Published in

Journal of Biological Chemistry
2011, Volume: 286, number: 43, pages: 37358-37367
Publisher: AMER SOC BIOCHEMISTRY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY INC