wit 3.0, A NOVEL GENE TO CONTROL SOFT TISSUE WOUND HEALING
UCLA Technology Available For Licensing

Soft tissue open wounds in skin and mucosa heal better when the wound margins are quickly pulled together during the initial 24 - 48 hours. The constitutive mechanism to regulate this initial wound contraction is not fully characterized to date; however, it has been well documented that fetus skin and oral mucosa, tissues that leave less scaring, are associated with the strong initial wound contraction activity. In our study elucidating the molecular mechanism of oral mucosa wound healing, a novel gene, wound inducible transcript-3.0 or wit-3.0, was isolated. The full-length cDNA sequence of wit-3.0 indicates that this gene encodes for consensus domains of the cytoskeletal molecular loco-motors. When over-expressed in fibroblasts, wit-3.0 significantly increases the collagen gel contraction in vitro during the first 24 hours, and the effect of wit-3.0 diminishes beyond this initial period.

This invention report describes the use of wit-3.0 in conjunction with the existing and/or new wound dressing materials. The wit-3.0 containing wound dressing material in a form of gel or equivalent serves as a gene transfer vehicle and delivers wit-3.0 to the wound margins. Cells at the wound site incorporate the wit-3.0 gene, which will then activate the constitutive initial wound closure. Therefore, the wit-3.0 containing wound dressing material can facilitate the better healing in adult skin and mucosa open wounds where post-surgical scar formation presents the common problem.

Related Paper (Selected)
  • Molecular cloning of wound inducible transcript (wit 3.0) differentially expressed in edentulous oral mucosa undergoing tooth extraction wound-healing. more...

    • Reference: UCLA Case No. 2001-194 PCT Number: WO 02/100250A2

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    NCD URL:   http://www.research.ucla.edu/tech/ucla01-194.htm
    Lead Inventor: Ichiro Nishimura

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    Copyright © 2001 The Regents of the University of California.

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