Therapeutic potential of ADSCs in diabetic wounds: a proteomics-based approach

In all measured days postoperatively, the wound healing rate was significantly higher in the ADSC group than in the PBS group (day 7: <i>p</i> < 0.001, day 10: <i>p</i> = 0.001, day 14: <i>p</i> < 0.01), except on day 3 (<i>p</i> > 0.05). Proteomic analysis identified 474 differentially expressed proteins, with 224 key proteins after PPI analysis (78 upregulated and 146 downregulated in the ADSC group). The main cellular locations of these proteins were "cellular anatomical entity" and "protein-containing complex", while the biological processes were "cellular processes" and "biological regulation". The primary molecular functions were "binding" and "catalytic activity", with GO enrichment focused on "Wnt-protein binding", "neural development", and "collagen-containing extracellular matrix". Further analysis of PPI network nodes using LASSO regression identified Thy1 and Wls proteins, significantly upregulated in the ADSC group, as potentially crucial targets for ADSC application in diabetic wound treatment.