Protein Technology Helps Heal Intractable Venous Ulcers

A wound-healing invention that is applied using a needle-less syringe quickly adheres to the ulcerous wound bed, offering a revolutionary new treatment.

Developed by researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT; Brisbane, Australia), VitroGro improves the delivery of growth stimulating insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) to their receptors on cell surfaces by providing a temporary scaffold on which wound cells can attach and migrate. This is important in chronic wounds, where healing needs to commence from the edges of the wound. Once the wound cells have adhered to a temporary VitroGro matrix, they can repair injured tissue and restore balance by producing a new extracellular matrix (ECM).

In a clinical trial held at the QUT Wound Clinic that evaluated VitroGro in the treatment of venous leg ulcer patients who had not responded to compression therapy--the current standard of care--92 of the patients taking part in the trial were healed partially or completely in 12 weeks. The average reduction in wound size was 65%, with no adverse events reported. The average treatment time that patients' venous ulcers had not responded to expert care before the VitroGro treatment was 37 months.

“We're very excited by these results as it's a new formulation, which is going to be extremely cost effective to the consumer,” said Prof. Zee Upton, PhD, of the QUT Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, who is also the technical founder and consulting CSO for Tissue Therapies (Brisbane, Australia), the biotechnology company that is commercially developing VitroGro. “For conditions like venous ulcers where the biology of healing is aberrant, VitroGro provides critical adhesion for cells by forming a scaffold they can attach to and migrate upon. It creates a favorable environment for healing and this is something that has been missing from conventional wound care.”

Venous ulcers tend to occur on the lower leg, just below the ankle to halfway up the calf, and may develop as a result of any injury to the leg or conditions such as varicose vein, blood clot in the leg, multiple pregnancies, overweight, and standing for long periods of time, such as in work related situations. Complications of venous disease often occur due to pooling of fluid in the limb, and may include poor wound healing, edema, restricted mobility due to pain or discomfort when moving, and recurrence of the ulcer.

Related Links:
Queensland University of Technology
Tissue Therapies Limited