Experimental cell researchSep 12, 2024

Reduced fibronectin buildup in skin tissue with age worsens cell aging

Regenerative Health Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 4, 2026

Abstract

Fibronectin (Fn) level decreases with aging in the reticular dermis of skin biopsies.

In skin biopsies, Fn abundance declines in the reticular dermis with age, but remains stable in the papillary dermis.
During replicative senescence in BJ skin fibroblasts, intracellular Fn levels increase, while secretion and formation of Fn fibrils are less effective.
Reduced formation of Fn fibrils is associated with disorganization of the extracellular matrix (ECM).
Different Fn isoforms are expressed in the secretome of senescent cells.
Knockdown of Fn may delay the onset of senescence, whereas cultivating cells on Fn-coated support appears to promote it.

Simplified

Fibronectin (Fn) is a ubiquitous extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein that acts as an ECM scaffold organizer and is essential in many biological functions, including tissue repair, differentiation or cancer dissemination. Evidence suggests that the amount of Fn changes during aging. However, how these changes influence the aging process remains unclear. This study aims to understand Fn influence on cell aging. First, we assess the relative level of Fn abundance in both different biopsies of skin donors and replicative senescence cellular model. In skin biopsies, we observed that Fn level decreases with aging in the reticular dermis, while its expression remains relatively stable in the papillary dermis, likely to sustain the dermis-epidermis junction. During replicative senescence, in BJ skin fibroblasts, while intracellular Fn increases, we found that secretion and Fn fibrils formation are less effective. Reduced Fn fibrils leads to disorganization of the ECM. This could be explained by the expression of different Fn isoforms observed in the secretome of senescent cells. Surprisingly, the knockdown of Fn delays the onset of senescence while cultivating cells onto a Fn-coated support promotes it. Taken together, these new insights on the role of Fn during aging may emerge new therapeutic strategies on aged-related diseases.

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Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest and competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

PubMed

Reduced fibronectin buildup in skin tissue with age worsens cell aging

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

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