Patients with diabetes are frequently afflicted with impaired wound healing that may progress into chronic, diabetic ulcers, often leading to complications including limb amputation with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. These ulcers occur not only in the later stages of diabetes but are also seen in newly diagnosed patients. Indeed, the diabetic foot is the most common cause of non-traumatic lower extremity amputations in the US.

Local delivery of inhibitors to microRNA-26a accelerates diabetic wound healing and granulation tissue thickness by increasing angiogenesis.

Accumulating studies demonstrate that angiogenesis, or the formation of blood vessels from pre-existing ones, may promote wound healing. However, angiogenesis is impaired in diabetic patients and the mechanisms controlling this process are not fully understood.

In this paper, we identify a unique role for a small non-coding RNA, termed microRNA-26a (miR-26a), in regulating the development of diabetic wound healing. Specifically, our findings indicate that miR-26a expression is increased in wounds of diabetic mice. Therapeutic silencing of miR-26a by local intra-dermal delivery effectively promoted wound closure and was associated with favorable phenotype features including increased granulation tissues, induction of Smad1 signaling in endothelial cells, and markedly increased angiogenesis. Interestingly, local silencing of miR-26a had no effect on dermal leukocyte inflammation, highlighting the importance of blood vessel growth for diabetic wound closure.

Collectively, these findings indicate that therapeutic inhibition of miR-26a may provide a promising treatment for diabetic subjects by restoring angiogenesis for dermal wound healing, and provide new therapeutic targets and strategies to ameliorate complications from diabetic wounds.

Mark W. Feinberg, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital/ Harvard Medical School

Publication

Regulation of impaired angiogenesis in diabetic dermal wound healing by microRNA-26a.
Icli B, Nabzdyk CS, Lujan-Hernandez J, Cahill M, Auster ME, Wara AK, Sun X, Ozdemir D, Giatsidis G, Orgill DP, Feinberg MW
J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2016 Feb

Read offline:     

Related Articles:

	The roles of mesenchymal stem cells secretome in diabetic… There has been a fourfold rise in the number of diabetics from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 and by 2040 the number will reach to 642…
	Medical grade honey facilitates the healing of minor… Children are at risk to injuries and wounds as it is their nature to play and explore in adventurous environments. At the same time, they are less experienced in calculating…
	The efficacy of L-Mesitran Medical Grade Honey for wound… South Africa is home to some of the world's most endangered wildlife, with the White rhinoceros (Cerathotherium simum) among its most threatened species due to its highly sought-after horn. The…
	Why photobiomodulation therapy is helpful for diabetic wound… It is an obvious well-known issue that diabetic wounds are poorly healing, but the molecular and cellular alterations leading to this impairment is not clear. Many studies concluded the dysfunction…
	3D-bioengineered human amniotic membrane scaffold for… In the tissue engineering context, attention to the biological scaffolds due to the safety, efficacy, and bio-mimicity was discussed. Among the natural scaffolds, human amniotic membrane (HAM) has shown to…
	Arthroereisis for symptomatic flexible flatfoot deformity in… Flexible flatfoot is a common deformity in the pediatric population. The foot due to ligamentous laxity is unable to support the body weight at its three contact areas to the…