title: Functional significance of periostin in excisional skin repair: is the devil in the detail?
abstract: In the past year, three papers have been published exploring the role of the matricellular protein periostin in excisional skin repair. These papers all show a delay in wound closure and the kinetics of this delay are strikingly similar across the three reports. The similarities between these papers end, however, when each investigates the mechanism through which periostin influences skin repair. Three proposed mechanisms have been identified: (1) myofibroblast differentiation, (2) keratinocyte proliferation and (3) fibroblast proliferation and migration. The aim of this commentary is to compare and contrast the three studies performed to date in an attempt to decipher the role of periostin in the repair of full-thickness skin wounds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada.
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.forename: Shawna S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Douglas W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Hamilton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D058628:Myofibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014945:Wound Healing
chemical_list: D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; C512835:POSTN protein, human