The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of heat stress on the expression of the coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) in mouse skin keratinocytes. Twenty BALB/c mice were randomly divided into two groups: the sham heat (control) and scald groups. Skin specimens were obtained 6 h after the treatments. Changes in the expression of CAR in skin keratinocyte samples were detected by immunohistochemistry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. In an in vitro assay, mouse skin keratinocytes were cultured and randomly divided into two groups: the normal control and heat stress groups. Six hours subsequently, the changes in CAR expression in the two groups were estimated by flow cytometry to determine the differences between the two groups. Heat stress significantly increased the expression of CAR in the mouse skin keratinocytes (P<0.05). The upregulation of CAR in mouse keratinocytes in burn wounds may be beneficial for restoring healing in organisms.