Scientists identify protein that speeds wound healing and tissue repair
Researchers found that a protein called eEF2 significantly improves how the body repairs dense connective tissues by controlling cell death, growth, and movement. The discovery could lead to new treatments for chronic wounds and surgical recovery, with potential applications across wound care, orthopedics, and regenerative medicine industries.
Originaltitel: eEF2 improves dense connective tissue repair and healing outcome by regulating cellular death, autophagy, apoptosis, proliferation and migration
<p>Outcomes following human dense connective tissue (DCT) repair are often variable and suboptimal, resulting in compromised function and development of chronic painful degenerative diseases. Moreover, biomarkers and mechanisms that guide good clinical outcomes after DCT injuries are mostly unknown. Here, we characterize the proteomic landscape of DCT repair following human tendon rupture and its association with long-term patient-reported outcome. Moreover, the regulatory mechanisms of relevant biomarkers were assessed partly by gene silencing experiments. A Mass-Spectrometry based proteomic approach quantified a large number (769) of proteins, including 51 differentially expressed proteins among 20 good versus 20 poor outcome patients. A novel biomarker, elongation factor-2 (eEF2) was identified as being strongly prognostic of the 1-year clinical outcome. Further bioinformatic and experimental investigation revealed that eEF2 positively regulated autophagy, cell proliferation and migration, as well as reduced cell death and apoptosis, leading to improved DCT repair and outcomes. Findings of eEF2 as novel prognostic biomarker could pave the way for new targeted treatments to improve healing outcomes after DCT injuries.</p>