Abstract
The healing of tissue involves a wide range of molecular, cellular, and physiological events that are coordinated in a temporally specific manner. The cellular transcription factor early growth response factor 1 (Egr1) is expressed minutes after acute injury and serves to stimulate the production of a class of growth factors whose role is to promote tissue repair. We have studied the effects of Egr-1 expression at the site of dermal wounding in rodents. We find that Egr-1 promotes angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo, increases collagen production, and accelerates wound closure. These results show that Egr-1 gene therapy accelerates the normal healing process and raises the potential use of this therapeutic transcription factor for any aspect of tissue repair.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.