Topical small molecule granzyme B inhibitor improves remodeling in a murine model of impaired burn wound healing.

Granzyme B (GzmB) is a serine protease that has long been thought to function exclusively in lymphocyte-mediated apoptosis. In recent years, this paradigm has been revisited due to the recognition that GzmB accumulates in the extracellular milieu in many autoimmune and chronic inflammatory disorders, and contributes to impaired tissue remodeling due to the cleavage of extracellular matrix proteins. Knockout studies suggest that GzmB-mediated cleavage of decorin (DCN) contributes to impaired collagen fibrillogenesis and remodeling.