the present invention provides a method of treatment to improve wound healing and to minimize / prevent abnormal scarring caused by tissue contraction and fibrosis formation by providing a specific gene , wit 3 . 0 alpha and beta sequences that is differentially expressed in wounded oral mucosa cells , relative to their decreased expression in non - wounded oral mucosa cells . one aspect of the invention is a method to treat soft tissue wound using anti - sense nucleic acid technologies . another aspect of the present invention is a method to treat soft tissue wound using sense nucleic acid technologies . these methods can employ a complimentary nucleic acid sequence that is greater than 85 % identity to wit 3 . 0 alpha and / or beta sequences or greater than 90 % identity to the deduced amino acids thereof .