Skin wounds induce an epigenetic memory that accelerates the healing of subsequent injuries. The underlying mechanism is now shown to involve epigenetic chromatin modifications in stem cells from a field of distal hair follicles that surround the injury. Importantly, this mechanism also results in a predisposition for skin cancer development.
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F.L. has received consultation fees from Beiersdorf.
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Lyko, F. Distal memory in wound healing and cancer. Nat Cell Biol 25, 631–632 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-023-01132-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-023-01132-w
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