Hypericin attenuates pathological scarring through concurrent modulation of transforming growth factor-β1 and bone morphogenetic protein 2 signaling in vitro and in vivo.
BACKGROUND Pathological scarring is driven by persistent crosstalk between profibrotic cytokine signaling and extracellular matrix remodeling. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)/Smad2/3 signaling broadly activates fibroblasts, whereas bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2)/Smad1/5/9 signaling reinforces matrix-produci...