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Introduction: Cutaneous wounds that involve loss of tissue heal through a complex process of generating granulation tissue to initially cover the wound, followed by epithelialization, and contraction. Normal healing requires a delicate balance between cellular, matrix, and vascularity build up and breakdown. Defects in the regulation of this balance can alter normal scar formation through fibroblastic hyperproliferation, which is characteristic of hypertrophic scar formation., Methods: Primary fibroblasts cultures from hypertrophic scar or adjacent normal skin were seeded in growth medium. Half of each was stimulated with interleukin (IL)-1beta for 6 h and half served as control nonstimulated fibroblasts. Supernatants were tested for expressed proteins and the fibroblasts for changes in gene expression., Results: Comparison between normal skin and hypertrophic scar fibroblasts stimulated with IL-1beta indicate that 15 genes increased and 8 genes decreased expression. When normal skin was stimulated with IL-1beta, there were increases in the expression of heat shock transcription factor-1, hsp70, and IL-6 When hypertrophic scar was stimulated with IL-1beta, there was a decrease in nuclear factor-kappaB, GADD45-alpha, p53, p53 binding protein, and Cox-2 genes. These genes may play specific but different roles in controlling the cellular response to cell stress and apoptosis., Conclusion: Data presented suggest that oxidative and heat stress proteins, stimulated through IL-1beta, may be important mediators of abnormal scarring.

Background: Thermal injury is associated with a pronounced catabolic response in skeletal muscle. This study identifies gene expression changes in skeletal muscle of thermally injured girls and boys using high-density oligonucleotide arrays., Methods: Six burned children with a mean age of 8.3 +/- 1.3 years and TBSA burn size covering 51 +/- 6% admitted to our hospital with in 48 h of injury and six cleft lip and cleft palate patients were studied. Total RNA was isolated, in vitro transcribed, and hybridized to HG-U95 Av.2 Affymetrix arrays. Messenger RNA expression patterns of controls and burn patients were compared using Affymetrix GeneChip Analysis Suite 5.2 and dChip., Results: Statistical analysis of the 12,625 genes on each array showed a significant increase in the expression of 77 genes in burn children and a decrease in 21 genes when compared to controls (P < 0.05). We found three genes in burned males and two genes in burned females with decreased expression in muscle compared to controls. Chromosomes 1, 2, 7, 12, and 16 showed genes with increased expression in muscle from burned children, while chromosomes 3, 7, 8, 19, and 22 had genes with decreased expression. Categories of genes affected were related to metabolism, proliferation, transcription/translation, immune response, stress response, angiogenesis, and signal transduction., Conclusions: Genes that are differentially expressed in skeletal muscle of burned children, but whose function in muscle is unknown, include those related to various transcription factors and those known to encode proteins involved in signaling pathways. Further analysis is required to achieve the ultimate goal of making functionally relevant conclusions about the molecular pathology of burn injury.