Lv Xinyi, He Zhenghao, Yang Ming, Wang Lu, Fu Siqi
Department of Dermatology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenomics, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China.
Department of Plastic Surgery, Zhongshan City People's Hospital, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China.
Heliyon. 2024 Jan 3;10(1):e24034. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24034. eCollection 2024 Jan 15.
Keloids are a type of abnormal fibrous proliferation disease of the skin, characterized by local inflammation that lacks clear pathogenesis and satisfactory treatment. The phenomenon of distinct phenotypes, including M1 and M2 macrophages, is called macrophage polarization. Recently, macrophage polarization has been suggested to play a role in keloid formation. This study aimed to evaluate the relation between macrophage polarization and keloids and identify novel effective treatments for keloids. Differentially expressed genes were identified via RNA sequencing of the skin tissue of healthy controls and patients with keloids and validated using quantitative PCR. Multiplex immunofluorescence microscopy was used to detect different phenotypes of macrophages in keloid tissues. Finally, quantitative PCR validation of differentially expressed genes and flow cytometry were used to analyze macrophages in the peripheral blood of healthy controls and patients with keloids. Total and M2 macrophages were significantly increased in the local skin tissue and peripheral blood of patients with keloids compared with healthy controls. In addition, inflammation- and macrophage polarization-related differentially expressed genes in keloid tissue showed similar expression patterns in the peripheral blood. This study highlighted an increased frequency of total macrophages and M2 polarization in the local skin tissue and peripheral blood of patients with keloids. This systematic macrophage polarization tendency also indicates a potential genetic predisposition to keloids. These findings suggest the possibility of developing new diagnostic and therapeutic indicators for keloids focusing on macrophages.
瘢痕疙瘩是一种皮肤异常纤维增生性疾病，其特征为局部炎症，发病机制尚不明确，且缺乏令人满意的治疗方法。包括M1和M2巨噬细胞在内的不同表型现象被称为巨噬细胞极化。最近，有研究表明巨噬细胞极化在瘢痕疙瘩形成中发挥作用。本研究旨在评估巨噬细胞极化与瘢痕疙瘩之间的关系，并确定瘢痕疙瘩新的有效治疗方法。通过对健康对照者和瘢痕疙瘩患者的皮肤组织进行RNA测序鉴定差异表达基因，并使用定量PCR进行验证。采用多重免疫荧光显微镜检测瘢痕疙瘩组织中巨噬细胞的不同表型。最后，通过定量PCR验证差异表达基因并利用流式细胞术分析健康对照者和瘢痕疙瘩患者外周血中的巨噬细胞。与健康对照者相比，瘢痕疙瘩患者局部皮肤组织和外周血中的总巨噬细胞和M2巨噬细胞显著增加。此外，瘢痕疙瘩组织中与炎症和巨噬细胞极化相关的差异表达基因在外周血中呈现相似的表达模式。本研究强调了瘢痕疙瘩患者局部皮肤组织和外周血中总巨噬细胞频率增加以及M2极化现象。这种系统性的巨噬细胞极化趋势也表明瘢痕疙瘩可能存在遗传易感性。这些发现提示了以巨噬细胞为重点开发瘢痕疙瘩新诊断和治疗指标的可能性。
