Current and upcoming therapies to modulate skin scarring and fibrosis

Abstract

Skin is the largest organ of the human body. Being the interface between the body and the outer environment, makes it susceptible to physical injury. To maintain life, nature has endowed skin with a fast healing response that invariably ends in the formation of scar at the wounded dermal area. In many cases, skin remodelling may be impaired, leading to local hypertrophic scars or keloids. One should also consider that the scarring process is part of the wound healing response, which always starts with inflammation. Thus, scarring can also be induced in the dermis, in the absence of an actual wound, during chronic inflammatory processes. Considering the significant portion of the population that is subject to abnormal scarring, this review critically discusses the state-of-the-art and upcoming therapies in skin scarring and fibrosis.

Keywords: Collagen deposition; Collagen synthesis; Hypertrophic scars; Inflammation; Keloid; Myofibroblasts; Remodelling; Scarring; Scleroderma; Systemic sclerosis; Wound healing.