Effect of YAP1-inhibition in Surgical Wounds.

When we get injured, our body naturally tries to heal. In adults, this healing often leads to scars - thick, stiff tissue known as fibrotic tissue. Unlike normal tissue, fibrotic tissue doesn't function properly and can cause serious health problems, depending on the affected organ. Once it forms, fibrosis is usually permanent.

A good example of the fibrosis process is the healing of our skin: after a cut or surgery, the resulting scar is a type of fibrosis. Special cells called fibroblasts are key players in this process.

Our study looks at a drug called verteporfin, which is already approved both in Europe and the U.S. Previous research on mice and human cells suggests it can reduce or even prevent fibrosis.

We are now testing, clinically, histologically and by scRNA-seq, whether injecting verteporfin into the skin during wound healing, specifically after surgical procedures, can prevent thick, rigid scars from forming. Since the skin is easy to observe and sample, it offers a great model for studying this.

Will verteporfin have an impact on how surgical wounds heal? That's what we aim to find out.