LEKTI - can you help explain the term LEKTI...??

[chantelle]

can anybody help me? i am a fundraiser for the National Eczema Society and am trying to write a paper in laymans terms from a scientific proposal. this is proving to be quite hard as i can not find the explanation of some words - can anyone help me with the word LEKTI - what does it mean please...??

[James]

From what I can see it's a gene for 'encoding the multidomain proteinase inhibitor'.

http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/274/31/21499

[Chris4]

Yeah. Thats the first paper if you search for LEKTI on Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/
This might be of particular interest: http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v25/n2 ... 0_141.html
Mutations in SPINK5, encoding a serine protease inhibitor, cause Netherton syndrome. SPINK5 being the gene which encodes LEKTI.
Netherton syndrome (NS) is a rare autosomal recessive hereditary ichthyosiform disease. Both skin and hair abnormalities are caused by conversion of an abnormally large amount of epidermal skin cells into dead cells (cornification). Another characteristic of Netherton Syndrome is a predisposition to allergies such as asthma, or food allergies which cause skin eruptions.
You might find this helpful aswell: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/ ... xjY3RBt-j-
and this: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/ ... 04.01915.x
Connections to atopic dermatitis.
Hope thats what your looking for.
I've pm'ed you aswell..

[chantelle]

Thank you for you kind offer of help and answers to my queiry. I now feel a little more confident in writing my proposal.

If you would like to find out more about The National Eczema Society please visit http://www.eczema.org

In the meantime, good luck with your studies and I know where to come should I need more help

Many thanks
Kind regards

Chantelle Josephs
Senior Fundraiser [email protected]