Study suggests that intestinal parasites could be the key to scar-free wound healing

Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey have discovered that a protein produced by parasitic worms in the intestine improves wound healing in mice. The study was published in the journal Life Sciences Allianceshows that applying the protein to skin wounds accelerates wound closure, improves skin regeneration, and inhibits the formation of scar tissue. Whether the protein can be used to improve wound healing in human patients remains to be seen.

Skin wounds must be closed quickly to prevent infection. However, rapid wound closure may promote the formation of scar tissue instead of properly regenerated skin. The balance between scar formation and successful tissue regeneration is strongly influenced by immune cells recruited to the wound. Many researchers are interested in finding ways to increase the activity of immune cell types that promote regeneration while inhibiting the activity of immune cells that promote tissue scarring.

Recent studies have shown that molecules secreted by parasitic worms could modulate the host immune system in a way that promotes tissue regeneration. In the new study, a team led by William C. Gause, director of the Center for Immunity and Inflammation at Rutgers University, examined a protein called TGM produced by Heligmosomoides polygyrus, a parasitic roundworm that lives in the intestines of mice and other rodents.

Gause and colleagues found that daily topical application of TGM accelerated the closure of skin wounds in mice. In addition, TGM treatment reduced the formation of scar tissue while improving skin regeneration. For example, unlike untreated animals, mice treated with TGM were able to form new hair follicles in the injured skin area.

The researchers found that TGM works by binding to a signaling protein called the TGF-b receptor, which is found on the surface of many cell types in mice and humans, including immune cells. TGM treatment appears to stimulate the recruitment of immune cells called macrophages into wounds and reprogram them to promote tissue regeneration.

“In this study, we have developed a novel therapy for treating skin wounds that favors regenerative wound healing over tissue fibrosis and scarring,” says Gause. “It provides an important framework for the potential use of an easily engineered parasite protein as a therapy to promote skin wound healing.”