Scientists Leverage Cellular Recycling to Heal Chronic Diabetic Wounds

• APTADEGRAD is developing LYTAC-based therapies to treat diabetic foot ulcers by removing excessive inflammatory proteins rather than just blocking them.
• Diabetic foot ulcers are a major complication, affecting about 25% of diabetic patients, with high risks of amputation and mortality.
• Current treatments focus on cleaning and dressing wounds; there are currently no approved disease-modifying drugs for this condition.

Understanding the Mechanism

• Persistent wounds are driven by excess proteins like IL-1β, its receptor IL-1R1, and MMP-9, which trigger runaway inflammation.
• The team uses Lysosome-Targeting Chimeras (LYTACs) to capture these proteins outside the cell and deliver them to lysosomes, the cell’s internal recycling system.
• Unlike monoclonal antibodies that merely block proteins, LYTACs remove them from the environment, potentially reducing side effects.

Progress and Future Outlook

• Laboratory studies show that these treatments successfully reduce inflammation and accelerate healing in diabetic wound models.
• Researchers have developed both injection-based therapies and a hydrogel formulation for direct application.
• The project, running until the end of 2027, aims to establish safety and effectiveness for human clinical trials potentially starting around 2030.