Epigenetic Dysregulation in Keloid Pathogenesis: Genome-wide Identification and Validation of Novel Methylation Signatures

Currently, most molecular studies on keloids have primarily focused on epigenetic mechanisms, involving gene expression regulation mechanisms, particularly DNA methylation, where methylation changes have been reported to cause many complex diseases. These studies investigate DNA methylation changes that have been linked to keloid scars.

This study aimed to enhance our understanding of keloid scars by examining the epigenetic mechanisms involved from 12 keloid scar fibroblasts and 6 normal skin fibroblasts, using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA). The findings revealed 3,564 differentially methylated CpG sites, 828 were hypomethylated (TSS200: 17.11%, TSS1500:37.76%, body: 44.84%, 3'UTR: 0.29%), and 2,736 were hypermethylated (TSS200: 14.81%, TSS1500: 37.34%, body: 47.50%, 3'UTR: 0.18%).