1. Heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor accelerates keratinocyte migration and skin wound healing.
- Author
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Shirakata, Yuji, Kimura, Rina, Nanba, Daisuke, Iwamoto, Ryo, Tokumaru, Sho, Morimoto, Chie, Yokota, Koichi, Nakamura, Masanori, Sayama, Koji, Mekada, Eisuke, Higashiyama, Shigeki, and Hashimoto, Koji
- Subjects
WOUND healing ,EPIDERMAL growth factor ,CELL migration ,KERATINOCYTES ,HEPARIN ,KERATIN ,CELL growth - Abstract
Members of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family are the most important growth factors involved in epithelialization during cutaneous wound healing. Heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF), a member of the EGF family, is thought to play an important role in skin wound healing. To investigate the in vivo function of HB-EGF in skin wound healing, we generated kerotinocyte-specific HB-EGF-deficient mice using Cre/loxP technology in combination with the keratin 5 promoter. Studies of wound healing revealed that wound closure was markedly impaired in kerotinocyte-specific HB-EGF-deficient mice. HB-EGF mRNA was upregulated at the migrating epidermal edge, although cell growth was not altered. Of the members of the EGF family, HB-EGF mRNA expression was induced the most rapidly and dramatically as a result of scraping in vitro. Combined, these findings clearly demonstrate, for the first time, that HB-EGF is the predominant growth factor involved in epithelialization in skin wound healing in vivo and that it functions by accelerating keratinocyte migration, rather than proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2005
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