Alteration in transforming growth factor-β1 gene expression in hypertrophic scar

314-317In human, development of hypertrophic scar is a complex interaction of growth factors, cytokines and abnormal processes of wound healing. The exact role of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) in pathogenesis of scar has not been well looked into Indian setup. Hence, the present study becomes imperative to understand its pathogenesis with the aim to evaluate the role of cytokine, such as, TGF-β1, before and after 6 months of application of a herbal cream. This study is intended to find out the differential expression of TGF-β1 gene after the herbal cream treatment and improvement in the hypertrophic scar. The total RNA was isolated from the samples using Trizol and cDNA was prepared for RT-PCR analysis. The expression of TGF-β1 was high in 72.5% cases of hypertrophic scar, while 27.5% cases showed lower expression before treatment. After 6 months of application of the herbal cream, the expression of TGF-β1 gene was significantly down regulated (77.5%), while no changes were observed in 22.5% of hypertrophic scar cases. The variation in the gene expression of TGF-β1 could be due to several factors, such as, different age group, depth of injury and delay in healing of wounds. However, the efforts have been made to cure such patients as they suffer from psychological problems, especially with the scars on exposed parts of the body including face