Immunohistochemical study on the expression of c-Fos and c-Jun in human skin wounds

An immunohistochemical study on the temporal expression of c-Fos and c-Jun, both of which designate proto-oncogene products, was performed on 60 human skin wounds with different post-infliction intervals. In unwounded skin, c -Fos or c-Jun was immunolocalized at the nuclei of the epidermal cells in t he basal layer, hair follicle cells and sweat gland cells. During the early inflammatory phase of wound healing, the nuclei of polymorphonuclear cells (probably neutrophils), mainly infiltrating at the wound site, were labele d with anti-c-Fos or -c-Jun antibody. As the wound age increased, the neutr ophils had disappeared at the wound site, and both mononuclear cells (proba bly macrophages) and spindle-shaped fibroblastic cells, which expressed a c -Fos or c-Jun positive reaction in the nuclei, were mainly observed. Morpho metrically, the distribution of the c-Fos-positive ratio was very similar t o that of the c-Jun-positive ratio; the positive ratio was considerably inc reased in wound specimens with a post-infliction interval of greater than o r equal to 1 day, thus indicating the late inflammatory or proliferative ph ase. This study showed that c-Fos and c-Jun were closely involved in the in flammatory phase as well as the proliferative phase of the wound healing pr ocess.