Figure 1.

Human keloid tissues show increased expression of WNT5A and EMT markers. (a) Bulk RNA-seq shows upregulation of WNT5A and EMT phenotype markers in keloid samples. GSEA of RNA-seq reveals significantly enriched gene sets in the (b) EMT and (c) IL-6/JAK/STAT3 pathways in keloid samples. Keloid tissues express (d) increased N-cadherin and decreased E-cadherin in the epidermis [scale bars, 100 μm (low-power field, LPF) and 50 μm (high-power field, HPF)]. Expression of (e) vimentin and α-SMA mRNA increases in keloid tissues including the reticular dermis [scale bars, 2 mm (LPF) and 250 μm (HPF)]. Expression of (f) WNT5A is significantly increased in keloid tissues [scale bars, 200 μm (LPF) and 50 μm (HPF)]. The tissue analyses were performed from three different keloid and normal tissues, with three independent experiments performed as technical replicates. ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.005, Mann–Whitney U test. EMT epithelial-mesenchymal transition, GSEA gene set enrichment analysis, LPF low-power field, HPF high-power field