Late cornified envelope 1C (LCE1C), a transcriptional target of TAp63 phosphorylated at T46/T281, interacts with PRMT5.

p63, a transcriptional factor that belongs to the p53 family, regulates epidermal differentiation, stemness, cell death, tumorigenesis, metastasis, and senescence. However, its molecular mechanism remains elusive. We report here that TAp63 phosphorylated at T46/T281 specifically upregulates the late cornified envelope 1C (LCE1C) gene that is essential at a relatively late stage of epithelial development. We identified these phosphorylation sites during a search for the targets of Cyclin G-associated kinase (GAK) in vitro. LCE1C was drastically upregulated by doxycycline-dependent expression of Myc-TAp63 wild-type protein. Luciferase reporter assays using the promoter region of the LCE1C gene confirmed that the phosphorylations of TAp63-T46/T281 contributed to full transcriptional activation of the LCE1C gene. LCE1C interacted with protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) and translocated it from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Mass spectrometry and co-immunoprecipitation identified importin-α as one of the association partners of LCE1C. In summary, we propose that the GAK_TAp63-pT46/pT281_LCE1C axis plays an important role in preventing the nuclear function of PRMT5.