Scientists from the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR) Institute of Medical Biology (IMB), Singapore, have identified a molecular “switch” that controls the actions of the skin cells that are necessary to close and heal wounds. This switch mechanism may hold the key to developing therapeutics that will reduce or prevent chronic wounds, including diabetes-related wounds. According to the researchers, this discovery is significant because chronic wounds in patients with diabetes are the most common cause of lower-limb amputations.
The research leading to this discovery was carried out in collaboration with A*STAR’s Bioinformatics Institute (BII); National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore; and Jnana Sanjeevini Diabetes Center, Bangalore, India, and was published in the March 8 edition of the journal Nature.
The scientists discovered that a micro-RNA molecule, called miR-198, controls several different processes that help wound healing by keeping them switched off in healthy skin. When skin is wounded, the manufacture of miR-198 stops and the levels of miR-198 drop, beginning many of the wound-healing processes. In the non-healing wounds of individuals with diabetes, miR-198 does not stop and wound healing remains blocked. This identified miR-198 as a potential diagnostic biomarker for non-healing wounds.
“Moving forward, we hope to translate this research into improved patient outcomes,” said Prabha Sampath, PhD, principal investigator at IMB, and lead author of the paper. “We can now build on this research to see how we can modulate the defective switch in chronic wounds by targeting miR-198 and its interacting molecules, to develop new strategies for treating chronic wounds.”
Editor’s note: This story was adapted from materials provided by A*STAR.
