Wound and cutaneous injury healing with a nucleic acid encoding perlecan

Patent Number: 7,488,719

This patent covers methods of acceleration of wound healing by transfecting cells with nucleic acids encoding the extracellular molecule perlecan.  Perlecan is associated with extracellular matrices in stem cell niches such as the limbic epithelial stem cell compartment (Schlotzer-Schrehardt et al. Characterization of extracellular matrix components in the limbal epithelial stem cell compartment. Exp Eye Res. 2007 Dec;85(6):845-60) and bone marrow (Chen et al. Extracellular matrix made by bone marrow cells facilitates expansion of marrow-derived mesenchymal progenitor cells and prevents their differentiation into osteoblasts. J Bone Miner Res. 2007 Dec;22(12):1943-56).

The first independent claim of this patent is: "A method for the effective healing of a wound or a cutaneous injury in a subject in need of such healing via delivery of a heparin sulfate-decorated perlecan molecule, the method comprising administering to the wound or cutaneous injury in the subject a nucleic acid coding for perlecan whereby said heparin sulfate-decorated perlecan molecule is generated by the subject, said nucleic acid being delivered in an amount sufficient to deliver an effective amount of heparin sulfate-decorated perlecan to the wound or cutaneous injury resulting in an in improvement in healing of the wound or cutaneous injury in the subject."

Since the patent calls for transfection with nucleic acids, it maybe interesting to add siRNA to TGF-beta so as to concurrently inhibit fibrosis during the healing process. 

Another interesting thing, of course would be to try out this technology with mesenchymal stem cells.

View this patent on the USPTO website.