Abstract
BACKGROUND: Intact skin is under constant tension, transmitted from the underlying dermis, but when tension is lost (i.e. upon wounding) protease activity is upregulated.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of mechanical strain on protease production by both normal and transformed keratinocytes in vitro.
METHODS: Keratinocytes were seeded on to membranes precoated with either type I or type IV collagen. After 48 h medium was replaced with serum-free medium and mechanical strain was applied.
RESULTS: Mechanical strain resulted in decreased urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) production by normal human keratinocytes (P<0.05) but increased production by transformed keratinocytes (P<0.05) cultured on type I and type IV collagen.
CONCLUSIONS: Differential production of uPA by normal and transformed keratinocytes is relevant in the context of normal function, wound healing and tumorigenesis.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 396-398 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | British Journal of Dermatology |
Volume | 158 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2008 |
Keywords
- Cells, Cultured/metabolism
- Humans
- Keratinocytes/metabolism
- Skin/metabolism
- Stress, Mechanical
- Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator/metabolism
- Wound Healing/physiology