Overexpressing of caveolin-1 in mesenchymal stem cells promotes deep second-degree burn wound healing.

Burn injury is one of the most common physical injuries in clinic. It is a big challenge to find an ideal treatment for burn injury. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been suggested as a promising candidate for wound healing. However, it is critical to improve the therapeutic efficiency of MSCs for treatment of burn injury. Here, we demonstrated that overexpression of caveolin-1, the main component of the caveolae plasma membranes, promoted the proliferation of MSCs both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, transplantation of MSCs overexpressing caveolin-1 facilitated the expression of various growth factors and immunoregulatory cytokines and accelerated deep second-degree burn wound healing in a rat model of burn injury. Our results suggest that overexpression of caveolin-1 can improve the therapeutic efficiency of MSCs, which may be a promising strategy for the treatment of deep second-degree burn injury in clinic.