What is "cytokeratin"

n. Either of several forms of keratin found in the intracytoplasmic cytoskeleton of epithelial tissue.

Cytokeratins are proteins of keratin-containing intermediate filaments found in the intracytoplasmic cytoskeleton of epithelial tissue. The term "cytokeratin" began to be used in the late 1970s (for example, see "Intermediate-sized filaments of human endothelial cells" by Franke, Schmid, Osborn and Weber) when the protein subunits of keratin intermediate filaments inside cells were first being identified and characterized. In 2006 a new systematic nomenclature for keratins was created and now the proteins previously called "cytokeratins" are simply called keratins.