Thy-1 knockdown retards wound repair in mouse skin.

Background: Thy-1 (CD90) is a glycophosphatidyl-inositol (GPI) linked, cell surface glycoprotein located in non-caveolar lipid raft microdomains.

Objective: The biological functions of Thy-1 in many tissues are well known, however, its role in skin wound healing remains unclear.

Methods And Results: In fibroblasts cells, Thy-1 affects cell migration into the wound, cell proliferation and the cytoskeleton structure. Additionally, Thy-1 is mainly expressed in the wound dermis. Here, we compared the in vivo aspects of the repair process with and without Thy-1 siRNA treatment. Temporally blocking Thy-1 in skin wound regions worsens the quality of healing and retards the rate of wound healing. Specifically, the level of TGF-β1 at the wound continuously increased.

Conclusion: These data suggest that blocking Thy-1 at wound areas using siRNA reduces repair and affects the re-epithelialization and over-expression of TGF-β1 of the wound during the skin healing process.