Wound healing is a process our bodies undergo to prevent infection and rebuild the skin’s barrier defenses. Scar formation is typically dependent upon the severity and complexity of an injury; however some people are prone to keloid scar formation. Keloids are a type of abnormal scar tissue that grows outside of the boundary of the original wound. In the wound healing process, fibroblasts are responsible for secreting collagen to rebuild the skin and fill in where it was disrupted. In keloid formation, fibroblasts produce excess collagen, leading to the appearance of a raised, overgrown scar. Collagen type I is a protein encoded by COL1A1, one of the main components of keloids. Modulating COL1A1 expression by fibroblasts could serve as a model for wound healing in which the over-abundance of collagen could be interrogated in isolation. This model could contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying keloid development and lead to a model for therapeutic targeting of collagen.
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