KRT14

Overview

KRT14 (Keratin 14) is an intermediate filament protein expressed in the basal layer of stratified epithelia. It is a canonical lineage-confirmation marker for keratinocytes in the skin and is used to distinguish keratinocyte populations from melanocytes, fibroblasts, and other dermal cell types in single-cell and spatial transcriptomic studies.

Alterations observed in the corpus

• Used as a lineage-confirmation marker for keratinocytes in normal human skin atlas profiling (297 single melanocytes from 31 donors, Xenium spatial validation); co-expressed with KRT17 and KRT5 to confirm keratinocyte identity and exclude non-melanocyte contamination from melanocyte clonal expansion. No somatic alterations in KRT14 reported. PMID:39975212
• Defining basal/stem marker of the basal-squamous MIBC subtype (35% of 412 tumors, TCGA BLCA 2017); high expression co-occurs with CD44, KRT5, and KRT6A in squamous-differentiated, immune-infiltrated tumors. PMID:28988769

Cancer types (linked)

• No direct cancer-type association reported in the corpus. KRT14 expression is used as a lineage marker in non-lesional skin adjacent to melanoma. PMID:39975212

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

• Co-expressed with KRT17 and KRT5 in keratinocyte populations, distinguishing them from melanocytes (PMEL, TYRP1, MLANA, MITF) and fibroblasts (LUM, COL1A1, S100A4). PMID:39975212

Therapeutic relevance

• No therapeutic relevance reported in the corpus.

Open questions

• None noted in the corpus.

Sources

• PMID:39975212

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