Wound dressings that release engineered antimicrobial peptides could replace conventional antibiotics in treating infected wounds, stopping bacteria from breeding under the bandage. Infection is the main cause of delayed healing, skin graft failure, and sepsis in wounds. Current antimicrobial dressings often fail because they are toxic to human cells, cannot penetrate bacterial biofilms, or have inconsistent killing power. Repeated use of conventional antibiotics in wound care drives resistance. The researchers have designed a new class of antimicrobial peptide that is cheap to synthesise, stable, non-toxic, and active against resistant microbes and biofilms. They are embedding this peptide into a hydrofibre dressing that also manages wound exudate and is easy to apply and remove. If the dressing works in clinical use, it could reduce amputations in diabetic patients and deaths from burn wound sepsis without contributing to antibiotic resistance. It would give clinicians a practical, affordable tool for complex wounds where current options offer little evidence of benefit. The technology is designed for routine hospital and community wound care, not for systemic infection.
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Wounds are breeding grounds for bacteria and hence infection is the major contributor to morbidity in patients, causing delayed healing, loss of skin grafts and sepsis. Delayed wound healing causes significant functional and psychological morbidity for patients, loss of limbs (in diabetes) or even loss of life (in burns). Wound dressings represent an important approach for wound care and management, but there is little evidence to support the routine use of the current antimicrobial dressings for complex wounds. Most antimicrobial dressings do not show clear wound healing benefits. This could be due to limitations such as local cytotoxicity, lack of penetrance and variable antimicrobial efficacy. Conventional antibiotics should be avoided for repeated or prolonged uses in wound care, because of the emergence of pathogens resistant to these commonly used antimicrobials. This highlights the urgent need for novel approaches. We are developing novel patented antimicrobial peptide (AMP) releasing hydrofibre dressings with a broad-spectrum activity against bacteria, to stem wound infection and improve wound healing. Our AMP has been developed through rational design, selected from many dozens of candidates, and tested against a range of microbes. The dressing will have a broad-spectrum of activity against wound isolated pathogens, feature high potency against resistant microbes, have fast dynamic kill, and high penetrance through resistant biofilms. Our AMP is easy to synthesize, highly stable and non-toxic. Our prototype wound dressing is designed to recognise the healthcare needs from clinicians and patients, including ease of application and removal, exudate management and affordability. The technology would represent a valuable addition to current wound care.
Adam Reid (Co-Investigator)Andrew McBain (Co-Investigator)Jason Wong (Principal Investigator)Jian Lu (Co-Investigator)Jiashen Li (Co-Investigator)Mamta Shah (Co-Investigator)Riina Richardson (Co-Investigator)Simon Webb (Co-Investigator)
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