A novel nanoparticle technology appears to promote wound healing and has led researchers to a new therapeutic target for wound healing, a new study says.

Writing in Journal of Investigative Dermatology, the study authors identify the previously uncharacterized microtubule-severing enzyme, Fidgetin-like 2 (FL2), described as a fundamental regulator of cell migration. In vitro, depletion of FL2 from mammalian tissue culture cells results in a more than two-fold increase in the rate of cell movement, they write. “Immunofluorescence analyses indicate that FL2 normally localizes to the cell edge, importantly to the leading edge of polarized cells, where it regulates the organization and dynamics of the microtubule cytoskeleton.”

For the current study, researchers used a nanoparticle-based siRNA delivery platform to locally deplete FL2 in both murine full-thickness excisional and burn wounds. They then applied FL2 siRNA nanoparticles topically to either wound type. Topical nanoparticle delivery resulted in significant enhancement in the rate and quality of wound closure both clinically and histologically relative to controls.