# An Autologous, Vascularized and Immunocompetent Tissue Engineered Skin to Highlight Inter‐Individual Variability to Better Understand the Human Wound Healing

**Authors:** Emilie Attiogbe, Elodie Mareux, Sébastien Larochelle, Adèle Mauroux, Sandrine Gofflo, Carine Mainzer, Sylvie Bordes, Brigitte Closs, Caroline Gilbert, Véronique J. Moulin

PMC · DOI: 10.1111/wrr.70129 · 2026-01-29

## TL;DR

A new skin model shows how different people heal wounds differently, which could help develop personalized treatments.

## Contribution

The study introduces an autologous, vascularized, and immunocompetent tissue-engineered skin model to study inter-individual variability in wound healing.

## Key findings

- Wound closure varied significantly between healthy donors, showing individual differences in healing.
- Platelet lysate treatment induced donor-specific responses, including epidermal migration and neo-angiogenesis.
- Lymphocytes migrated into wounds, but no CD206-positive cells or neo-angiogenesis occurred without treatment.

## Abstract

In vitro tissue‐engineered skin models are valuable tools for dermatological research. Yet, they often fail to reproduce the complex interactions among vascular, immune, and cutaneous cells during the wound healing process. In addition, inter‐individual variability response remains poorly understood, limiting our knowledge of the genetic and environmental factors that influence wound healing. This study presents a 3D autologous, vascularised, and immunocompetent Tissue Engineered Skin model (aviTES), generated using cells from the same donor to study the wound healing process. The aviTES models were injured using a 2 mm punch biopsy, and wound closure was macroscopically monitored for 7 days in the absence of any stimuli. The re‐epithelialisation rate was highly reproducible within the same donor. However, wound closure differed between healthy donors (five distinct donors), highlighting individual variability. Indeed, in most cases, complete re‐epithelialisation was observed within 2–4 days, but one did not close completely after 7 days. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed lymphocytes (CD45+/CD3+) migration for all donors, but no migration of CD206‐positive cells or neo‐angiogenesis into the wound sites. By contrast, platelet lysate treatment promoted epidermal cell migration, capillary organisation/neo‐angiogenesis, and altered collagen and MMP secretion at levels that were specific to each donor, highlighting donor‐specific responses to treatment. This innovative autologous skin model reproduced several key features of the human wound healing process and may represent a new tool for studying wound healing process and inter‐individual variability, paving the way for advances in personalised medicine.

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** CXCL8 (C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 8) [NCBI Gene 3576] {aka GCP-1, GCP1, IL8, LECT, LUCT, LYNAP}, PECAM1 (platelet and endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1) [NCBI Gene 5175] {aka CD31, CD31/EndoCAM, GPIIA', PECA1, PECAM-1, endoCAM}, LYVE1 (lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor 1) [NCBI Gene 10894] {aka CRSBP-1, HAR, LYVE-1, XLKD1}, PTPRC (protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type C) [NCBI Gene 5788] {aka B220, CD45, CD45R, GP180, IMD105, L-CA}, INS (insulin) [NCBI Gene 3630] {aka IDDM, IDDM1, IDDM2, ILPR, IRDN, MODY10}, EGF (epidermal growth factor) [NCBI Gene 1950] {aka HOMG4, URG}, VEGFA (vascular endothelial growth factor A) [NCBI Gene 7422] {aka L-VEGF, MVCD1, VEGF, VPF}, MRC1 (mannose receptor C-type 1) [NCBI Gene 4360] {aka CD206, CLEC13D, CLEC13DL, MMR, MRC1L1, bA541I19.1}
- **Diseases:** ulcer (MESH:D014456), tissue injury (MESH:D017695), blood coagulation (MESH:D001778), hypertrophic scars (MESH:D017439), diabetes (MESH:D003920), aviTES (MESH:D012871), inflammation (MESH:D007249), diabetic foot ulcers (MESH:D017719), lymphatic oedema (MESH:D008206), scleroderma (MESH:D012595)
- **Chemicals:** penicillin (MESH:D010406), Paraffin (MESH:D010232), gentamicin (MESH:D005839), DMEM (-), ponceau (MESH:C032756), fuchsin (MESH:D012394), acetone (MESH:D000096), nitrogen (MESH:D009584), haematoxylin (MESH:D006416), formalin (MESH:D005557), 4-aminophenylmercuric acetate (MESH:C010024), aniline blue (MESH:C017006), eosin (MESH:D004801), xylene (MESH:D014992), alcohol (MESH:D000438), DAPI (MESH:C007293), isoproterenol hydrochloride (MESH:D007545), hydrocortisone (MESH:D006854), NaCl (MESH:D012965), penicillin G (MESH:D010400), mDH (MESH:C062690)
- **Species:** Rattus norvegicus (brown rat, species) [taxon 10116], Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606], Sus scrofa (pig, species) [taxon 9823]

## Figures

8 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12854395/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12854395