Journal: Cell Reports Medicine
Article Title: Transcriptome-guided development of a fibrosis-reversal compound reduces skin scarring and allows regeneration via mitochondrial uncoupling
doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2026.102821
Figure Lengend Snippet: Transcriptome screening platform DRUG-seq2 identified chemical compounds for reversing skin fibrosis (A) Schematic of the drug screening process: fibroblasts isolated from pathological scar tissue of patients underwent chemical library treatment, followed by DRUG-seq2 transcriptional profiling. Bioinformatics-driven prioritization yielded lead compounds, with phenotype-reversing hits undergoing further functional validation. (B) Uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) of DRUG-seq2 data from keloid fibroblasts treated with different compounds. (C) Circular heatmap depicting ssGSEA enrichment scores for compound-mediated modulation of fibrosis-associated gene signatures. (D) Bright-field microscopy of keloid fibroblasts treated with DMSO or Rottlerin (0.33, 1, and 3 μM; scale bars, 100 μm), with quantification of cell count. Relative mRNA expression of profibrotic markers ( COL1A1, COL3A1, ACTA2, CTGF ) and the cell proliferation marker MKI67 was determined by RT-qPCR ( n = 3). (E) Western blot analysis of COL1A1 and MMP1 protein expression in keloid fibroblasts exposed to graded concentrations of Rottlerin (0.33, 1, and 3 μM) ( n = 2). (F) RT-qPCR analysis of COL1A1, COL3A1 , and CTGF in keloid fibroblasts from six patients after treatment with Rottlerin at 3 μM ( n = 6). (G) SAR-guided structural optimization of Rottlerin yielding derivatives FR-1 to FR-12. (H) Screening of fibrosis-reversal efficacy among twelve distinct modified compounds (FR-1 to FR-12) at a uniform concentration of 2 μM via RT-qPCR quantification of COL1A1, COL3A1, and ACTA2 ( n = 3). Data are mean ± SD; n represents the number of independent biological replicates. ∗ p < 0.05; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗∗∗ p < 0.001; ∗∗∗∗ p < 0.0001; ns, not statistically significant vs. DMSO by one-way ANOVA.
Article Snippet: Single-crystal X-ray diffraction data collection of compound FR-1 , The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center (CCDC) , CCDC: 2498324.
Techniques: Drug discovery, Isolation, Functional Assay, Biomarker Discovery, Microscopy, Cell Characterization, Expressing, Marker, Quantitative RT-PCR, Western Blot, Modification, Concentration Assay