title: Suppression of in vitro proliferative scar fibroblast contraction by interferon alfa-2b.
abstract: Increased fibroblast activity and collagen production have been observed frequently in proliferative scars. Previous studies have demonstrated that interferons suppress collagen production by means of normal, keloid, and hypertrophic scar-derived fibroblasts. The fibroblast-populated collagen lattice is an in vitro model used to study fibroblast function. We used fibroblast-populated collagen lattices to evaluate the effect of interferon on fibroblasts harvested from normal human skin, human keloid, and hypertrophic scar tissues. Human recombinant interferon alfa-2b (1000 IU/ml) was added to the culture media. The collagen gel, prepared from rat tail tendon bundles, was overlaid with 5 x 10(4) fibroblast cells. Keloid fibroblast-populated collagen lattices showed the highest contraction. Contraction in all the groups appeared suppressed by interferon alfa-2b during the first 72 hours of study (p < 0.05). The reduction in fibroblast-populated collagen lattice contraction by interferon alfa-2b was similar among the groups. The contractile properties of fibroblasts taken from normal human skin, keloids, and hypertrophic scars in this in vitro study were suppressed by interferon alfa-2b. This suggested that interferon alfa-2b may be beneficial for the treatment of proliferative scars.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch/Shriners Burns Institute, Galveston, Tex., USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sahara
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kucukcelebi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Robson