Orf virus IL-10 accelerates wound healing while limiting inflammation and scarring.
Interleukin (IL)-10 plays a critical role in controlling wound inflammation and scar formation. Orf virus, a zoonotic parapoxvirus, induces proliferative skin lesions that resolve with minimal scarring. Orf virus encodes a range of factors that subvert the host's response to infection, including a homolog of IL-10. This study investigated, using a murine full-thickness wound model, whether purified orf virus IL-10 (ovIL-10) can regulate skin repair and scarring. Repeat injections of ovIL-10 into wounded skin accelerated wound closure. Histological analyses of wound sections revealed that treatment with ovIL-10 accelerated wound reepithelialization, granulation tissue coverage of the wound bed, and improved wound revascularization. In addition, wounds treated with ovIL-10 showed a reduction in macrophage infiltration, myofibroblast differentiation, and wound contraction. Treatment of wounds with ovIL-10 also resulted in a reduction in visible scarring that was consistent with the extent of scar tissue formed. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed that ovIL-10 reduced the expression of key mediators of inflammation and granulation tissue formation. These findings show that ovIL-10, like mammalian IL-10, limits inflammation and scar tissue formation and reveal a new role for both mammalian and viral IL-10 in mediating tissue repair.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Lyn M
LM
Wise
Gabriella S
GS
Stuart
Nicola C
NC
Real
Stephen B
SB
Fleming
Andrew A
AA
Mercer
D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000473:pathology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D009923:Orf virus / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000276:immunology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
D016207:Cytokines; D016753:Interleukin-10