The injury-induced circular RNA circGLIS3 activates dermal fibroblasts to promote wound healing

Abstract

Delayed skin wound healing and excessive scarring are consequences of an impaired healing process and represent a major health and economic burden worldwide. Current intervention strategies lack efficacy and suffer from high recurrence rates necessitating the investigation into alternative treatment modalities like circular RNAs (circRNAs). By RNA sequencing, we profiled circRNA expression changes during human skin wound healing as well as in keratinocytes and fibroblasts isolated from donor-matched skin and acute wounds. CircGLIS3 was found to be transiently upregulated in the dermal fibroblasts upon skin injury, which was at least partially due to the activated IL-1 signaling. Similarly, overabundant circGLIS3 expression was detected in human keloid lesions compared to the surrounding healthy skin. We found that circGLIS3 resided mainly in the cytoplasm, where it interacted with and stabilized Procollagen C-endopeptidase enhancer 1 (PCPE-1) protein to enhance TGF-beta signaling, fibroblast activation, and production of extracellular matrix - important biological processes required for wound repair. Accordingly, knockdown of circGLIS3 in human ex vivo wounds potently reduced wound contraction and delayed re-epithelialization. Collectively, we have identified a previously uncharacterized circRNA regulator of human skin wound healing that may open an avenue for circRNA-based therapeutics for abnormal scarring or nonhealing wounds.