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Anonymous ID: 6e670d Dec. 9, 2024, 7:09 p.m. No.22138844   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8950 >>9136 >>9216

A Beneficial Bacterium Helps Wounds Heal

 

Skin wounds that fail to heal in a normal timeframe are considered to be chronic, and an estimated two percent of the global population will experience a chronic wound in their lifetime.1 In addition to severe pain, individuals with chronic wounds can face mental health problems due to the persistent nature of the condition and the risk of recurrence. This significantly affects their quality of life, highlighting the need for effective treatments.

 

Given this unmet clinical need, researchers have been exploring a new frontier—the wound microbiome.2 Previously published studies have largely focused on faulty processes in skin cells that contribute to impaired healing, said Ellen White, a microbiologist in Elizabeth Grice’s research team at the University of Pennsylvania.3 “But recently, we've appreciated that there is a wound microbiome—an entire ecosystem that colonizes wounds and can influence wound healing.”

 

Highlighting this, White and her colleagues have shown that a bacterium found in chronic wounds can aid wound healing in mice.4 The results, published in Science Advances, uncover a mechanism of bacterial-driven wound repair and provide a foundation to develop microbiome-based therapies.

 

“This study is unique in terms of bringing light on the good part of the chronic wound microbiome,” said Irena Pastar, who researches microbiome interactions in cutaneous disorders at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and was not involved in the study.

 

To identify chronic wound-associated microbiota, Grice’s team swabbed diabetic foot ulcers from 100 participants and sequenced DNA from these samples.5 Among the bacteria abundantly present in the samples, they identified an environmental, non-pathogenic bacterium called Alcaligenes faecalis. Digging into published datasets, the team found that this bacterium was prevalent in different types of chronic wounds, such as pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers.6,7 This prompted them to investigate the role of A. faecalis in chronic wounds.

 

More at: https://www.the-scientist.com/a-beneficial-bacterium-helps-wounds-heal-72382