Trichohyalin confers mechanical strength to the hair follicle inner root sheath and to other toughened epithelial tissues, such as the hard palate and filiform ridges of the tongue, by forming multiple complex crosslinks with itself and with other structural proteins (Steinert et al., 2003 [PubMed 12853460]).[supplied by OMIM].
Intermediate filament-associated protein that associates in regular arrays with keratin intermediate filaments (KIF) of the inner root sheath cells of the hair follicle and the granular layer of the epidermis. It later becomes cross-linked to KIF by isodipeptide bonds. It may serve as scaffold protein, together with involucrin, in the organization of the cell envelope or even anchor the cell envelope to the KIF network. It may be involved in its own calcium-dependent postsynthetic processing during terminal differentiation.