Diabetes-New Treatment for Skin-Corneal
Wound Healing in Diabetic Patients
New
Treatment for Skin, Corneal Wound Healing in Diabetic Patients
Dec. 12, 2013 — Diabetes Mellitus
(DM), a metabolic disorder that affects nearly 170 million people worldwide, is
characterized by chronic
hyperglycemia that disrupts carbohydrate fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin
secretion, insulin action or both. DM can cause long-term damage,
dysfunction and even failure of various organs.
Patients with DM may develop corneal complications and
delayed wound healing. This slow wound healing contributes to increased infections and the
formation of bed sores and ulcers. Corneal complications include diabetic neuropathies and
ocular complications that often lead to reduced vision or blindness.
A team of Wayne State University
researchers recently developed several diabetic models to study impaired wound
healing in diabetic corneas. Using a genome-wide cDNA array analysis, the group
identified genes, their associated pathways and the networks affected by DM in
corneal epithelial cells and their roles in wound closure. Their findings may
bring scientists one step closer to developing new treatments that may slow
down or thwart the impact on vision.
The team, led by Fu-Shin Yu, Ph.D.,
professor of ophthalmology and director of research at the Kresge Eye
Institute, has discovered transforming
growth factor β (TGFβ) signaling as a major pathway affected by hyperglycemia
in DM corneal epithelial cells. In addition, Yu and his team identified
for the first time that wound-induced
upregulation of TGFβ3 is dampened by hyperglycemia and that by adding TGFβ3 to the wound,
epithelial wound closure was accelerated.
This discovery, published online in
the scientific journal, Diabetes, may provide new treatment options for
diabetic wound healing in tissues such as the cornea and skin.
"Delayed wound healing are major complications of
diabetes, often leading to severe end results such as diabetic ulcers, losing a limb or going blind,"
said Joan Dunbar, Ph.D., associate vice president for technology
commercialization at Wayne State University. "Dr. Yu's discovery of the
genome-wide transcriptional analysis has allowed the development of composition
and methods to treat negative effects of diabetes, which may ultimately promote
healing of wounds, reduce the negative effects of diabetic neuropathies, and
promote the health of the eye and maintenance of eye sight in diabetics. The
findings in the cornea have a strong implication in the skin as they both have neuropathy and delayed wound
healing."
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