To observe the difference of HaCaT transcriptome in the epidermal cells after a short-term hypoxia treatment, and to find out the key regulatory genes of the epidermal cells in hypoxic microenvironment.

In this study, a hypoxic group and an normoxic control group were established. The hypoxic group was cultured for 30 min in a 1% hypoxic incubator, and the normoxic group was cultured in a conventional incubator for 30 min. Total RNA was extracted by Trizol method. Differential genes were screened by gene chip technology. Key regulatory genes were further analyzed by GO and KEGG Pathway. The results were also validated by qRT-PCR.

Compared with the control group, 5416 genes were up-regulated and 5060 genes were down-regulated after hypoxic microenvironment treatment, including oxidative stress, immune response, transcription factor regulation, cell migration, signal transduction pathway and chemotaxis. Further analysis showed that DDIT3, CCL20 and IL6 genes were involved in the regulation of these processes. At the same time, the results of qRT-PCR were consistent with those of the chip.

In hypoxic microenvironment, besides oxidative stress, the genes related to cell migration play an important role. It is also found that CCL20, IL6 and DDIT3 play an important role in most of the regulation. These molecules have important research value in revealing the regulation of epidermal cell migration and wound healing mechanism.