Advances in the research of signaling pathway in pathologic scar formation

Scar is the natural end of wound healing, but pathologic scar will form with the excessive hyperplasia. The problems which thus come not only include the physiological and psychological disorders caused by the change of appearance or dysfunction, but also include the economic burden for both families of the patients and society induced by the requirement of plastic or functional reconstruction. The formation of pathologic scars is affected by many factors involved in the process of wound healing, such as excessive inflammation, abnormal tissue repair, and lingering repair termination, which involve a lot of signaling pathways. Current studies show that these signaling pathways are potential sites for the prevention and treatment of pathologic scar. These signaling pathways are reviewed from the aspects of inflammation-related signaling pathways, tissue repair-related signaling pathways, and repair-termination-related signaling pathways.