Imperial College London
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Dr Ben Almquist FIMMM

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering

Senior Lecturer
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6494b.almquist Website

 
 
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Location

 

413Royal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Plotczyk:2023:10.1038/s41536-022-00270-3,
author = {Plotczyk, M and Francesco, J and Limbu, S and Boyle, C and Ovia, J and Almquist, B and Higgins, C},
doi = {10.1038/s41536-022-00270-3},
journal = {Regenerative Medicine},
title = {Anagen hair follicles transplanted into mature human scars remodel fibrotic tissue},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41536-022-00270-3},
volume = {8},
year = {2023}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Despite the substantial impact of skin scarring on patients and the healthcare system, there is a lack of strategies to prevent scar formation, let alone methods to remodel mature scars. Here, we took a unique approach inspired by how healthy hairbearing skin undergoes physiological remodelling during the regular cycling of hair follicles. In this pilot clinical study, we tested if hair follicles transplanted into human scars can facilitate tissue regeneration and actively remodel fibrotic tissue, similar to how they remodel the healthy skin. We collected full-thickness skin biopsies and compared the morphology and transcriptional signature of fibrotic tissue before and after transplantation. We found that hair follicle tranplantation induced an increase in the epidermal thickness, interdigitation of the epidermal-dermal junction, dermal cell density, and blood vessel density. Remodelling of collagen type I fibres reduced the total collagen fraction, the proportion of thick fibres, and their alignment. Consistent with these morphological changes, we found a shift in the cytokine milieu of scars with a long-lasting inhibition of pro-fibrotic factors TGFβ1, IL13, and IL-6. Our results show that anagen hair follicles can attenuate the fibrotic phenotype, providing new insights for developing regenerative approaches to remodel mature scars.
AU  - Plotczyk,M
AU  - Francesco,J
AU  - Limbu,S
AU  - Boyle,C
AU  - Ovia,J
AU  - Almquist,B
AU  - Higgins,C
DO  - 10.1038/s41536-022-00270-3
PY  - 2023///
SN  - 1746-0751
TI  - Anagen hair follicles transplanted into mature human scars remodel fibrotic tissue
T2  - Regenerative Medicine
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41536-022-00270-3
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/102039
VL  - 8
ER  -
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