Small cytoskeleton-associated molecule, fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 oncogene partner 2/wound inducible transcript-3.0 (FGFR1OP2/wit3.0), facilitates fibroblast-driven wound closure.

Wounds created in the oral cavity heal rapidly and leave minimal scarring. We have examined a role of a previously isolated cDNA from oral wounds encoding wound inducible transcript-3.0 (wit3.0), also known as fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 oncogene partner 2 (FGFR1OP2). FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 was highly expressed in oral wound fibroblasts without noticeable up-regulation of alpha-smooth muscle actin. In silico analyses, denaturing and nondenaturing gel Western blot, and immunocytology together demonstrated that FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 were able to dimerize and oligomerize through coiled-coil structures and appeared to associate with cytoskeleton networks in oral wound fibroblasts. Overexpression of FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 increased the floating collagen gel contraction of naïve oral fibroblasts to the level of oral wound fibroblasts, which was in turn attenuated by small-interfering RNA knockdown. The FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 synthesis did not affect the expression of collagen I as well as procontractile peptides such as alpha-smooth muscle actin, and transforming growth factor-beta1 had no effect on FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 expression. Fibroblastic cells derived from embryonic stem cells carrying FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 (+/-) mutation showed significant retardation in cell migration. Thus, we postulate that FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 may regulate cell motility and stimulate wound closure. FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 was not up-regulated during skin wound healing; however, when treated with FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 -expression vector, the skin wound closure was significantly accelerated, resulting in the limited granulation tissue formation. Our data suggest that FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 may possess a therapeutic potential for wound management.