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. 2023 May 19;10:1176781. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1176781

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Copyright © 2023 Touni, Shivde, Echuri, Abdel-Aziz, Abdel-Wahab, Kundu and Le Poole.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Keratinocytes secrete growth and melanogenic factors that influence signal transduction pathways within melanocytes. Keratinocyte-derived, melanocyte-stimulating factors include alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH), Endothelin-1 (EDN-1), Stem Cell Factor (SCF), and Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) that bind to their corresponding receptors on the surface of melanocytes. Among these receptors, c-kit, c-Met, and EDN receptors activate Mitogen-Activated Protein (MAP) kinases, while the melanocortin-1 (MC-1) receptor activates protein kinase A (PKA). In turn, MAP kinase or PKA will activate microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), which regulates the expression of multiple pigmentation-related genes.