Development of self-administered diabetic wound healing therapy

该项目涉及一项非凡的创新，通过指导身体重新设计自身的血管网络来促进愈合，为危及生命的皮肤溃疡提供潜在的变革性治疗。为什么会出现皮肤溃疡？皮肤通常会形成一个强大而重要的屏障，保护我们免受环境中无数的伤害。当皮肤屏障被破坏而不愈合时，溃疡就形成了。人体的血管网络对成功的皮肤愈合至关重要：通过血液将氧气和营养物质输送到溃疡或伤口部位。因此，这些网络的质量对治疗的成功至关重要。糖尿病患者有可能患上一种严重的、可能危及生命的皮肤溃疡——糖尿病足溃疡（DFU），这种溃疡通常会导致住院治疗，最严重的病例甚至会截肢（每年11,000例截肢，NHS花费近10亿英镑）。它们的皮肤愈合机制因血管和神经受损而受损，使它们更容易受到伤害。一个健康的血管供应受损的皮肤是必不可少的愈合。作为治疗反应的一部分，身体热衷于刺激血管生长，可能会促使形成过多的小而无效的血管旁路，而没有足够的主要高速公路，而这些高速公路在为治疗提供必需的氧气和营养方面要有效得多。这项创新的核心是一种伤口愈合的新方法，该技术已被证明可以通过重新设计血管网络来刺激溃疡上的皮肤再生，从而使主要公路比大量但往往无效的小路更受欢迎。这种新的治疗方法可以智能地重新设计血管以促进愈合。这项技术令人兴奋，因为它可以在1 -2年内为DFU患者的临床试验做好准备。这种治疗方法可以很容易地作为药膏涂抹在患者自己的皮肤上，使他们远离医院，避免严重的危及生命的并发症。如果在DFU中取得成功，它可能会更广泛地应用于其他严重伤口，可能会带来巨大的健康效益，并节省卫生预算。

This project involves the development of a remarkable innovation which offers a potentially transformative treatment for life-threatening skin ulcers, by instructing the body to re-engineer its own blood vessel networks to promote healing.Why do skin ulcers arise? The skin normally forms a robust and essential barrier to protect us from a myriad of harms in the environment. An ulcer forms when the skin barrier is breached and does not heal. The body's blood vessel networks are vital to successful skin healing: by conveying oxygen and nutrients via the bloodstream to the site of the ulcer or wound. The quality of those networks is therefore crucial to the success of healing.Patients with diabetes are at risk of developing a serious, potentially life- threatening type of skin ulcer -- diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) - that often results in intensive, hospital-based treatment or even limb amputation in the most severe cases (11,000 amputations per year at a cost to the NHS of nearly £1 billion). Their skin healing mechanisms are impaired through damage to blood vessels as well as to nerves that makes them more susceptible to injury.A healthy blood vessel supply to damaged skin is essential to healing. The body, in its enthusiasm to stimulate blood vessel growth as part of the healing response, may encourage too many small, ineffective blood vessel byways to be formed, without enough of the main highways that are considerably more effective at delivering the essential oxygen and nutrients for healing.This innovation centres on a new approach to wound healing with the use of a technology that has been shown to stimulate the regrowth of skin over an ulcer, by re-engineering the blood vessel networks so the main highways are favoured over the plentiful, but too often ineffective, byways. This new treatment intelligently re-engineers blood vessels to encourage healing.The technology is exciting in that it could be ready for clinical trials in DFU patients within 1 -2 years. The treatment would be easily applied as a cream to the skin by the patients themselves, keeping them out of hospital and avoiding serious life- threatening complications. If it is successful in DFU it may have wider application to other serious wounds, potentially offering enormous health benefits and savings to the health budget.