Skin physiology unveiled

The skin constitutes the biggest organ of the human body, protecting against many environmental threats and pathogens. It possesses many layers, with the outermost layer (the epidermis) acting as a barrier.

When the integrity of the skin is compromised, a very effective multi-step repair mechanism is activated that ensures fast recovery. During this process, skin cells from the epidermis known as keratinocytes migrate over the injured tissue to heal the wound. This migration requires morphological and cytoskeletal changes that are driven by integrins and the small G proteins of the Rho family.

CD98hc seems to be essential for proper epidermal wound healing in vivo. It acts as a co-receptor for integrin and at the same time can regulate the activity of other Rho proteins.

Based on this, the EU-funded 'Role and regulation of CD98hc and Rho proteins during skin wound-healing' (CD98 RHO SKIN) project has set out to investigate how these molecules converge in skin physiology regulation. The project is using mouse models to dissect the role of CD98hc in skin homeostasis and repair.

Results indicate the requirement of CD98hc for proper wound healing and reveal a regulatory impact on RhoA activity through intracellular reactive oxygen species levels. In addition, CD98hc seems to regulate the mechano-sensing and mechano-transduction properties of integrin, revealing novel angles of this interaction.

Ongoing dissection of the mechanisms behind this regulation is anticipated to unveil some interesting findings on skin physiology. Given the immense medical issue of skin injury or burn, understanding how the skin mediates repair should lead to novel treatments.