Abstract
When the integrity of skin is compromised during wounding, both the dermal
ECM and the epidermal basement membrane undergo extensive remodeling. These
ECM remodeling events are tightly regulated by extracellular proteases that are
expressed and secreted by the various cell types within both the epidermal and dermal compartments of the skin, including keratinocytes, melanocytes, and dendritic
cells in the epidermis, and fibroblasts, macrophages, lymphocytes, and endothelial
cells in the dermis and vasculature . One of the major enzyme families responsible
for the proteolysis of the ECM is the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) (2,3,7).
Although many different types of proteolytic enzymes are expressed during cutaneous wound healing, MMPs clearly play a key role in regulating cell migration,
ECM degradation and assembly, and cell proliferation in the skin (8).