Skin immunity in wound healing and cancer

Arnolda Jakovija; Tatyana Chtanova

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1060258

Skin immunity in wound healing and cancer

Front Immunol. 2023 Jun 16:14:1060258. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1060258. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Arnolda Jakovija^{1

2}, Tatyana Chtanova^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Immunity Theme, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia.
² St. Vincent's School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
³ School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Abstract

The skin is the body's largest organ. It serves as a barrier to pathogen entry and the first site of immune defense. In the event of a skin injury, a cascade of events including inflammation, new tissue formation and tissue remodeling contributes to wound repair. Skin-resident and recruited immune cells work together with non-immune cells to clear invading pathogens and debris, and guide the regeneration of damaged host tissues. Disruption to the wound repair process can lead to chronic inflammation and non-healing wounds. This, in turn, can promote skin tumorigenesis. Tumors appropriate the wound healing response as a way of enhancing their survival and growth. Here we review the role of resident and skin-infiltrating immune cells in wound repair and discuss their functions in regulating both inflammation and development of skin cancers.

Keywords: innate response; skin adaptive immunity; skin cancer immunity; skin immunity; skin wound healing.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Carcinogenesis / pathology
Humans
Inflammation
Skin* / pathology
Wound Healing*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by funding to TC from the National Breast Cancer Foundation (IIRS-22-053), UNSW Cellular Genomics Futures Institute, UNSW Sydney, inter-disciplinary funding scheme grants and ARC Discovery Project Grant DP220102278.