KRT5

Overview

KRT5 (Keratin 5) is an intermediate filament protein and a hallmark marker of basal keratinocytes in stratified squamous epithelia. Together with KRT14, it defines the basal keratinocyte compartment and is routinely used in histopathology and single-cell studies to confirm epithelial cell identity.

Alterations observed in the corpus

• Used as a keratinocyte lineage-confirmation marker in a normal human skin atlas study profiling 297 single melanocytes from 31 donors with matched DNA/RNA sequencing and Xenium spatial validation; co-expressed with KRT14 and KRT17 to confirm keratinocyte identity in cell-type deconvolution. No somatic alterations 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, KRT14, and KRT6A; squamous-differentiation marker with strongest immune signature. PMID:28988769

Cancer types (linked)

• No direct cancer-type association reported in the corpus. Expression used as a cell-type anchor in non-lesional skin adjacent to melanoma. PMID:39975212

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

• Co-expressed with KRT14 and KRT17 in keratinocytes; mutually exclusive with melanocyte markers (PMEL, TYRP1, MLANA, MITF) and fibroblast markers (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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