Lactococci for wound healing
A group of researchers from Uppsala University (Sweden) has discovered a new way to quickly heal wounds. The technology and the described method consists in using lactic acid bacteria as vectors (deliverers) of chemokine to the damage zone. This is the first development in the world to create such a tool for strictly local use.
Treatment of large and non-healing wounds is expensive for public health on a national scale, because there are not enough effective tools to accelerate wound healing. Currently, care is limited to mechanical sanitation, washing with solutions of antiseptics and antibiotics and the use of various dressings. The older the patients, the higher their probability of having diabetes mellitus, in addition, the problem of infection resistance to antibiotics is becoming more acute. In these conditions, the development of a treatment that can accelerate the healing of wounds is of great importance.
There have been many attempts to create such a tool, but they all failed. Currently, growth factor-based drugs are undergoing the third phase of clinical trials. But their creation and use requires significant material costs, so some of the research has already been discontinued.
The authors of the study write about the development of a method that is radically different from those methods that are currently known. Preclinical studies on mice have shown a fairly good result.
Acceleration of the healing process occurs due to changes in the microenvironment in the wound, which primarily changes the behavior of immune cells. An increase in the content of chemokine CXCL12 over a long period by continuous delivery directly to the wound leads to the activation of endogenous factors leading to rapid recovery of damaged tissue.
Lactic acid increases the bioavailability of chemokine and, by changing the pH to the acidic side, inhibits its destruction.
Under the action of chemokine CXCL12, immune cells are rebuilt to repair damage.
The researchers conducted a number of experiments on healthy mice, as well as on mouse models with diabetes mellitus, with peripheral ischemia, as well as in human tissue samples taken by biopsy. Each time, the new method significantly accelerated the healing process.
An important advantage of the method is local action without any systemic effects.
The next step is to organize and conduct research on pigs.
Article by Vågesjö et al. Accelerated wound healing in mice by on-site production and delivery of CXCL12 by transformed lactic acid bacteria is published in the journal PNAS.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on Uppsala Universitet: New technology for accelerated wound healing discovered.