A keloid is a fibrous tumor formed by an aberrant wound-healing response, in which scar tissue grows beyond the original injury site into surrounding normal skin. In his doctoral dissertation, Licentiate of Medicine Tuomas Komulainen investigated whether biological characteristics of keloids could predict responses to the commonly used intralesional therapies triamcinolone and 5-fluorouracil. The study showed that significant treatment-associated changes were observed, particularly in dermal vasculature and M2 macrophages. The study challenges the prevailing view that the keloids are hypoxic and suggests that M2 macrophages and regulatory T cells may play key roles in mediating the effects of intralesional therapies. The study advances our understanding of keloid biology and identifies promising directions for future research.
The doctoral dissertation of Licentiate of Medicine Tuomas Komulainen, titled Biomarkers for Intralesional Injection Therapies in Keloids, will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology of Tampere University on Friday, 30 October 2026. The dissertation is in the field of medicine.
The Opponent will be Dr. Alexander Nyström, Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg, Germany. The Custos will be Professor Tero Järvinen from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University.