Project summary
Around 20-30% of people living with diabetes have problems with wounds that fail to heal, which can lead to serious health problems. Dr Hiebert’s team want to understand how a new type of biological scaffolding, which supports cells and tissues in the body, could be used to help wounds heal better and faster. This treatment could prevent people with diabetes from experiencing the serious complications of wounds that don’t heal.
Background to research
Diabetes can cause problems with blood flow and feeling in the legs and feet. This means that people with diabetes might not notice a small cut or injury right away. These small injuries can turn into bigger wounds. But because diabetes can change the way our body repairs itself, wounds can heal very slowly or not at all. This can lead to infection and, in the most serious cases, amputations in people with diabetes.
In the body, the extracellular matrix (ECM) is a network of proteins and other molecules that acts like a supportive scaffolding for our cells and tissues. It helps cells grow, move and communicate and importantly, repairs damaged tissue. Fibroblasts are a type of cell that are involved in making the ECM.
Dr Hiebert has found that a protein called ‘NRF2’ can change how the ECM is formed by talking to these fibroblasts. NRF2 has helped wounds to heal in mice but we don’t know if it could work in a similar way for people living with diabetes.
Research aims
Dr Hiebert wants to build upon the results of his previous research. He wants to use the interaction between fibroblast cells and the NRF2 protein to make a new kind of ECM that helps skin cells to heal quicker. He’ll then test different types of ECM on tiny wounds in mice with diabetes and skin samples from people with diabetes.
He’ll look at the wounds under a microscope and use other scientific tools to compare how fast they heal and figure out the best ECM that could be used to create a new treatment.
Potential benefit to people with diabetes
This research could lead to new treatments, like a gel, to mend wounds faster and more completely in people with diabetes. This could make it easier for people with diabetes to deal with wounds and help to avoid serious complications, like infections or surgeries. All of this would mean healthier and happier lives for people living diabetes.
