Comparative analysis of human and mouse transcriptomes during skin wound healing

Abstract

Skin wound healing is a complex process which involves multiple molecular events and the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. We presented a comparative transcriptomic analysis of skin wound healing in humans and mice to identify shared molecular mechanisms across species. We analyzed transcriptomes from three distinct stages of the healing process and constructed protein-protein interaction networks to elucidate commonalities in the healing process. A substantial number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in human transcriptomes, particularly upregulated genes before and after wound injury, and enriched in processes related to extracellular matrix organization and leukocyte migration. Similarly, the mouse transcriptome revealed thousands of DEGs, with shared biological processes and enriched KEGG pathways, highlighting a conserved molecular signature in skin wound healing. A total of 21 common DEGs were found across human comparisons, and 591 in mouse comparisons, with four genes (KRT2, MARCKSL1, MMP1, and TNC) consistently differentially expressed in both species, suggesting critical roles in mammalian skin wound healing. The expression trends of these genes were consistent, indicating their potential as therapeutic targets. The molecular network analysis identified five subnetworks associated with collagen synthesis, immunity, cell-cell adhesion, and extracellular matrix, with hub genes such as COL4A1, TLR7, TJP3, MMP13, and HIF1A exhibited significant expression changes before and after wound injury in humans and mice. In conclusion, our study provided a detailed molecular network for understanding the healing process in humans and mice, revealing conserved mechanisms that could help the development of targeted therapies across species.