Hoxa3 treatment methods for accelerating wound healing in aged non-diabetic mice

Abstract

Chronic wounds are characterized by a persistent, hyper-inflammatory environment that prevents progression to regenerative wound closure. Such chronic wounds are especially common in diabetic patients, often requiring distal limb amputation, but occur in non-diabetic, elderly patients as well. Induced expression of HoxA3, a member of the Homeobox family of body patterning and master regulatory transcription factors, has been shown to accelerate wound closure in diabetic mice when applied topically as a plasmid encased in a hydrogel. We now provide independent replication of those foundational in vivo diabetic wound closure studies and expand upon them with minimal dose threshold estimation. Furthermore, we observed similarities in natural wound healing velocity between aged non-diabetic mice and young diabetic mice, which provided motivation to test topical HoxA3 plasmid in aged non-diabetic mice, where we again observed accelerated wound healing. We did not observe any gross adverse effects macroscopically or via local histology in these short studies. Whether as a plasmid or future alternative modality, topical HoxA3 is an attractive translational candidate for chronic wounds.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.