Liraglutide Promotes Diabetic Wound Healing via Myo1c/Dock5

Non-healing diabetic wounds and ulcer complications, with persistent cell dysfunction and obstructed cellular processes, are leading causes of disability and death in patients with diabetes. Currently, there is a lack of guideline-recommended hypoglycemic drugs in clinical practice, likely due to limited research and unclear mechanisms. In this study, it is demonstrated that liraglutide significantly accelerates wound closure in diabetic mouse models (db/db mice and streptozotocin-induced mice) by improving re-epithelialization, collagen deposition, and extracellular matrix remodeling, and enhancing the proliferation, migration, and adhesion functions of keratinocytes. However, these effects of improved healing by liraglutide are abrogated in dedicator of cytokinesis 5 (Dock5) keratinocyte-specific knockout mice. Mechanistically, liraglutide induces cellular function through stabilization of unconventional Myosin 1c (Myo1c). Liraglutide directly binds to Myo1c at arginine 93, enhancing the Myo1c/Dock5 interaction by targeting Dock5 promoter and thus promoting the proliferation, migration, and adhesion of keratinocytes. Therefore, this study provides insights into liraglutide biology and suggests it may be an effective treatment for diabetic patients with wound-healing pathologies.

Dock5; diabetic wound healing; keratinocyte function; liraglutide.