Epigenetic modification: A novel insight into diabetic wound healing

Heliyon. 2024 Mar 13;10(6):e28086. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28086. eCollection 2024 Mar 30.

Abstract

Wound healing is an intricate and fine regulatory process. In diabetic patients, advanced glycation end products (AGEs), excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), biofilm formation, persistent inflammation, and angiogenesis regression contribute to delayed wound healing. Epigenetics, the fast-moving science in the 21st century, has been up to date and associated with diabetic wound repair. In this review, we go over the functions of epigenetics in diabetic wound repair in retrospect, covering transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation. Among these, we found that histone modification is widely involved in inflammation and angiogenesis by affecting macrophages and endothelial cells. DNA methylation is involved in factors regulation in wound repair but also affects the differentiation phenotype of cells in hyperglycemia. In addition, noncodingRNA regulation and RNA modification in diabetic wound repair were also generalized. The future prospects for epigenetic applications are discussed in the end. In conclusion, the study suggests that epigenetics is an integral regulatory mechanism in diabetic wound healing.

Keywords: DNA methylation; Diabetic wound; Epigenetics; Histone modification; N6- methyladenosine; Non-coding RNA.

Publication types

  • Review