Chloroquine alleviates the heat-induced to injure via autophagy and apoptosis mechanisms in skin cell and mouse models

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 31;17(8):e0272797. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272797. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Burns can cause cell death and irreversible tissue damage. We examined the pathway of human dermis fibroblasts cell death caused by skin burns and the roles of chloroquine in human skin keratinocytes HaCaT wound healing. Western blot assays were performed to assess expression of proteins associated with autophagy, apoptosis, and endoplasmic reticulum stress in skin cells following burns. Changes in apoptosis-related proteins were assessed using flow cytometry, and wound cell migration was examined using wound healing assays. The burn animal model was used to test whether chloroquine would promote wound healing. In human burned fibroblasts, expression of LC3B-II and Cleave-caspase-7 was increased, whereas expression of Beclin-1, p62, and Grp78 was decreased. Severe burn induced ER stress and ERK phosphorylation, but PD98059 or necrostatin-1 treatment cells did not affect expression of autophagy LC3B-II protein and can induce apoptosis. Even though added with TGF-β and FGF did not repair autophagy caused by burns. Suggesting that autophagy and apoptosis were involved in heat-injured mechanism. Recombinant Wnt3a protein can help restore expression of β-catenin which reduced following burns in keratinocytes. Wnt3a protein can promote migration of keratinocytes after burns. Interesting, chloroquine increased expression of LC3B-II protein and restored cell migration activity after 24 h of burns. Consistently, surgical dressing containing chloroquine promoted wound healing in a burn animal mode. Autophagy and Wnt/β-catenin is two signalling pathways that participate in cell repair and wound healing in human fibroblasts, keratinocytes. Surgical dressing containing chloroquine can recover wound healing in burned rats.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
  • Apoptosis* / drug effects
  • Autophagy* / drug effects
  • Burns* / drug therapy
  • Chloroquine* / metabolism
  • Chloroquine* / pharmacology
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Hot Temperature
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Rats
  • Wnt3A Protein / metabolism
  • beta Catenin / metabolism

Substances

  • Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
  • Wnt3A Protein
  • beta Catenin
  • Chloroquine

Grants and funding

(a)The sources of funding (financial or material support) for our study. List as below: The sources of funding Number 1. Chung Shan Medical University Hospital CSH-2021-C-028 2. Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan MOST 110-2320-B-025 -001- (b) The funders had no role in our study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. (c) No authors received a salary from any of our funder. (d) The authors received no specific funding for this work.