Like the more than 29 million people in the U.S, my mother has diabetes. Her eldest sister and my maternal grandmother both died of complications of the disease, and her one surviving sister is coping with complications that will probably claim her life in a few years. I’ve got gestational diabetes (a temporary version of the disease that occurs during pregnancy), and due to that and my family history I'm likely to develop type-2 diabetes down the line, also. So I'm always very interested in hearing about research advances related to the disease.
One such advance: As reported today in the the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Stanford researchers have developed a new skin patch that delivers a drug to aid the healing of diabetic ulcers. Diabetic ulcers (or open wounds) are one of the most common complications of the disease, with an estimated 15 percent of diabetics developing them. They often occur on the feet and are the leading cause of diabetes-related amputations. The high level of blood sugar in diabetics’ blood impairs the body’s ability to grow new blood vessels, which slows down healing of the ulcers.
Deferoxamine, or DFO, is an FDA-approved drug that can help correct this problem, but it would be toxic if taken for as long as diabetics need it to heal their ulcers. So Stanford researchers developed a local application via a skin patch. In a press release, study authors Dominik Duscher, MD, a plastic and reconstructive surgery postdoctoral fellow, and surgeon Geoffrey Gurtner, MD, talked about the findings of their work in animal models:
Not only did the wounds in the mice heal more quickly, Duscher said, but the quality of the new skin was even better than the original. The researchers also used the DFO matrix on a mouse with diabetes to see if it would prevent ulcer formation — and it did. “We were very excited by the results,” Duscher said, “and we hope to start clinical trials soon to test this in humans.”
“This same technology is also effective in preventing pressure ulcers, which are a major source of morbidity and mortality in patients with neurologic injury or the elderly,” said Gurtner, who is also the Johnson & Johnson Distinguished Professor in Surgery II. “The actor Christopher Reeve actually died from a pressure ulcer and not his spinal cord injury, which really emphasizes the extremely limited therapeutic options for these patients.”
Luckily my mother hasn’t had to deal with diabetic ulcers, though when she gets small cuts or chaps on her skin, they do take forever to heal, so she’s super-vigilant about avoiding them. The possibility of preventing more serious ulcers with this patch is a development I’ll be following closely.
Previously: A primer on preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes and New medicine? A look at advances in wound healing
