Background: Healthy individuals rarely have problems with wound healing. Most skin lesions heal rapidly and efficiently within one to two weeks. However, many medical and surgical complications can be attributed to deficiencies in wound repair. Open wounds have lost the barrier that protects tissues from bacterial invasion and allows the escape of vital fluids. Without expeditious healing, infections become more frequent. The CD24 gene encodes a heavily-glycosylated cell surface protein anchored to the membrane by phosphatidylinositol. CD24 plays an important role in the adaptive immune response and controls an important genetic checkpoint for homeostasis and autoimmune diseases in both mice and humans. We have previously shown that overexpression of CD24 results in increased proliferation and migration rates.
Aim: To examine the role of CD24 in the wound healing process.
Methods: An excisional model of wound healing was used and delayed wound healing was studied in genetically modified heat stable antigen (HSA/CD24)-deficient mice (HSA-/-) compared to wild-type (WT) mice.
Results: Large full-thickness skin wounds, excised on the back of mice, exhibited a significant delay in the formation of granulation tissue, and in wound closure when compared to their WTHSA+/+ littermates. Wounds were histologically analyzed and scored, based on the degree of cellular invasion, granulation tissue formation, vascularity, and re-epithelialization. Additionally, in stitched wounds, the HSA-/- mice failed to maintain their stitches; they did not hold and fell already 24 hours, revealing erythematous wound fields. Re-expression of HSA, delivered by lentivirus, restored the normal healing phenotype, within 24 hours post-injury, and even improved the healing in WT, and in BalbC mice.
Conclusions: Delayed wound-healing in the absence of HSA/CD24 suggests that CD24 plays an important role in this process. Increased expression of CD24, even in the normal state, may be used to enhance wound repair.