SATURDAY, Sept. 7, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- A genetically engineered gel is being tested to see if it can heal diabetes-related foot ulcers.
This form of gene therapy is meant to cover such foot ulcers with substances the body normally produces to repair skin. It's being tested by University of Florida scientists, along with researchers from Selective Genetics Inc., the company that developed the gel.
The study will include at least 21 people with diabetes-related food ulcers. It's designed to determine whether this gene therapy approach is safe and what the ideal dose is. The researchers will also assess whether the gel improves wound healing.
The gel itself contains a common virus that's been engineered to carry copies of the gene that makes platelet-derived growth factor. That's something the body naturally produces to help heal wounds. The developers expect wound repair cells to migrate to the gel, take up the gene, and start producing the platelet-derived growth factor.
Each year in the United States, doctors treat about 3 million skin ulcers that refuse to heal, even months after the initial injury. About 400,000 of those skin ulcers afflict people with diabetes. For thousands of them, skin ulcers that won't heal lead to foot or limb amputation.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about diabetic foot ulcers.
