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Pathological scarring is a result of the hypertrophy of scar tissue during tissue repair following trauma. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of ubiquitin-specific protease 4 (uSP4) silencing on pathological scarring, and to evaluate the mechanistic basis for the effect. an MTT assay was used to assess cell viability. immunoprecipitation (iP) was used to determine ubiquitination levels of the TGF-β receptor (Tβr)i and Smad7. Tumor formation was assessed by injecting keloid fibroblasts. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to detect pathological changes in tumor tissue. reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis assays were used to evaluate the expression levels of Tβri and Smad7. compared with the untreated control animals, cell viability and the expression of Tβri and Smad7 increased significantly in animals treated with TGF-β. Short hairpin rna for uSP4 (shuSP4) decreased the cell viability of negative control cells, TGF-β-induced cellular proliferation, and the expression of TβRI and Smad7. IP experiments indicated that the ubiquitination level of Tβri was decreased following uSP4 silencing. There was no remarkable difference in the structure of scar tissue among the various animal groups at 14 days following treatment, while the necrotic area of the scar tissue in the shuSP4 and vialinin a (uSP inhibitor)-treated animals increased significantly at the 28th and 42nd day compared with the control animals. At days 14, 28 and 42, the expression levels of Tβri and Smad7 in the shuSP4 and vialinin a-treated animals were significantly decreased compared with the control animals (P<0.05). in summary, interference with or inhibition of uSP4 prevented the activity of the TGF-β/Smad pathway signaling and inhibited the formation of pathological scars.

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Melanoma is an invasive and malignant type of tumor with unsatisfactory therapeutic outcomes. The present study aimed to detect the expression levels of microRNA (miR)-125b in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) melanoma tissues and the association of its expression levels with the clinical features, diagnosis and prognosis of melanoma. Expression levels of miR-125b in 29 FFPE melanoma specimens (16 primary and 13 metastatic tumors), and 16 intradermal nevus (IDN) specimens as a control, were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. Associations among miR-125b expression and mortality, patient age and sex, tumor location and size, lymph node metastasis (LNM) and TNM stage were analyzed by t-test. The diagnostic value of miR-125b for melanoma was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Prognosis of patients in the microRNA-125b low- and high-expression groups was analyzed by Fisher's exact test. The association between miR-125b expression and the overall survival of patients with melanoma was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curve analysis and a Cox proportional hazards model. The results revealed that the expression levels of miR-125b in primary and metastatic melanomas were significantly lower than those in the IDN control group (P<0.05), and the expression levels of miR-125b in the metastatic group were significantly lower than those in the primary group (P<0.05). In addition, the expression levels of miR-125b were significantly associated with LNM (P=0.001) and TNM stage (P=0.004), but not with age, sex, tumor size or location (P>0.05). ROC curve analysis revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.880, with a 95% CI of 0.777–0.984 (P<0.05). The overall survival rate of the patients with a low expression level of miR-125b (20.0%) was lower than that of patients with a high expression level of miR-125b (64.3%) (P<0.05). miR-125b expression was an independent predictor of overall survival in patients with melanoma [hazard ratio (HR), 0.252; 95% CI, 0.087–0.729]. Overall, these findings indicated that a low expression level of miR-125b was associated with higher LNM and TNM stage in patients with melanoma, and that this has a certain diagnostic value. miR-125b may be used for the early screening of melanoma and determining the prognosis of patients with melanoma, and may be a potential target for the treatment of the disease.