Bold Smart Wound Healing Technique

I found an article written by Ana Sandoiu and fact checked by Gianna D’Emilio giving some information on a new design “smart” wound healing technique they have found through research.  This is a new generation of materials that work actively with tissues to drive the healing of wounds.

Because there are more and more surgical procedures performed in the U.S., the number of surgical site infections is on the rise as well.  Some chronic wounds do not heal and often host a wide range of bacteria in the form of a biofilm, such as those that happen in diabetes.  The bacteria such as this are very resilient to treatment, as well as antimicrobial resistant, as it only increases the possibility that the wounds become infected.

There are estimates that chronic wounds affect about 5.7 million people in the U.S. of which some can result in amputation.  Diabetic ulcers is one case in which this happens.  They estimate that every 30 seconds a chronic, non-healing diabetic ulcer causes an amputation on a global level.  There is an urgent need for innovative and effective wound healing methods.  This new research shows promise, as the scientists have devised a molecule that helps to harness the body’s natural healing powers.

These molecules are called traction force-activated or TrAPs that are growth factors that help materials such as collagen, interact with the body’s tissues in a more natural way.  A lecturer in the department of engineering at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom is Ben Almquist, Ph.D, who led the new research.

Materials like collagen are used quite often in healing of the wounds, such as collagen sponges that can treat burn injuries and implants that can help bones regenerate.  So how is it that collagen can interact with tissue?  The cells in the scaffold implants move through the collagen structure and pulls the scaffold along with them, triggering the healing proteins, such as growth factors that can help the tissue regenerate.

Almquist and the team engineered TrAP molecules in an effort to recreate this natural process in their new study.  They folded DNA strands into aptamers, which are three-dimensional shapes that bind to proteins.  A handle for cells to grip was then designed where they attached cells to one end of the handle and a collagen scaffold to the other end.  It was revealed through lab tests that the cells dragged the TrAPs
along when moving through the collagen implants.  This then activated growth proteins triggering the healing process within the tissue.  This cell movement in activating healing is found in creatures from sea sponges to humans.  They are mimicking them and works with the different varieties of cells that are in our damaged tissue over time to promote healing.

By tweaking the cellular handle it changes the type of cells that can attach and hold on to the TrAPs, enabling them to release personalized regenerative proteins based on the cells that have attached to the handle. The technique can be applied to various types of wounds that range from bone fractures to scar tissue injuries caused by heart attacks and from nerve damage to diabetic ulcers.  This technique provides a flexible method in creating materials that actively communicate with the wound and give key instructions when and where they are needed.

This technology could help to launch a new generation of materials that will actively work with tissues to drive the healing process.

Dr Fredda Branyon