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Updated: Jan 29, 2026

Isolation, Culture, and Characterization of Primary Dermal Fibroblasts from Human Keloid Tissue
Published on: July 28, 2023
Correlation between Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels with Keloid Severity
Vira Indhiratamin Damanik1, Imam Budi Putra2,3, Oratna Ginting2,3
1Dermatology and Venereology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia.
Background:
Keloids are dermal fibroproliferative tumours characterised by excessive deposition of extra cellular matrix components. The active form of vitamin D is known to inhibit the proliferation of keloid fibroblasts by inhibiting extracellular matrix production induced by transforming growth factor ß (TGF-β) and increasing matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity. Vitamin D derivatives are thought to be an early preventive treatment strategy for keloid.
Aim:
To determine the correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level with keloid severity.
Methods:
This is a cross-sectional analytic study involving 32 keloid patients. Keloid patients were diagnosed by history and clinical examinations. Then an assessment of the severity was conducted using the Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS). We conducted blood sampling and measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level to the patients. This study has been approved by the Health Research Ethics Commission of the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara, H. Adam Malik General Hospital Medan.
Results:
There is negative correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level with severity in keloid patients (p = 0.0001; r = -0.737). There is no significant correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level with gender (p = 0.271), age (p = 0.201; r = -0.232), duration of keloid (p = 0.505; r = -0.122) and family history (p = 0.262).
Conclusion:
Lower level of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the severity of keloid became an increasingly heavy. There is no significant difference between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level with gender, age, duration of keloid and family history in keloid patients.
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