I-Corps: Natural Compounds for Wound Healing

University Of South Carolina At Columbia, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is providing affordable and effective method to treat chronic wounds based on the use of two natural compounds. Chronic wounds affect millions of people in US and account for a significant fraction of overall health care costs. Nevertheless, the regeneration of skin remains a huge challenge due to its multilayered structure and the presence of different cell types organized within the extracellular matrix. This complexity necessitates the use of multi-functional drugs with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, pro-angiogenesis and pro-healing properties. The potential advantages of the proposed treatment strategy over conventional approaches include reduced cost, decreased side-effects, lower risk of infection, and increased patient compliance. This I-Corps project core technology is a chronic wound healing product composed of two phenolic compounds isolated from a botanical source to yield an active source of anti-inflammatory, pro-angiogenic and pro-regeneration activities. Chronic wound healing is a complex physiological process controlled by a well-orchestrated cascade of interdependent biochemical and cellular events. The proposed innovation harnesses the multi-targeting ability of natural compounds to modulate the crosstalk between inflammation, epithelialization and vascular formation in chronic wounds. The team will potentially develop a minimum viable product based on a proprietary formulation of phenolic natural compounds to accelerate fibroblast and keratinocytes migration, enhance blood vessel formation, and modulate macrophage response. The scope of this project is not necessarily confined to the field of wound repair. Unraveling the cellular and molecular modes of action that regulate immunomodulatory signaling cascades is an important step in drug discovery with a wide array of potential applications.