Use of a Recombinant Vasoactive Protein (rSVEP) to Enhance
Use of a Recombinant Vasoactive Protein (rSVEP) to Enhance
A novel recombinant protein (rSVEP), originally discovered in insect saliva and known to increase blood flow, was tested with the hypothesis it would improve healing of surgically created wounds in the skin of beagle dogs. This hypothesis was tested in an experimental protocol that included: 1) use of laser Doppler perfusion imaging (LDPI) to determine dose-response and duration of blood flow increase to rSVEP injected intradermally; 2) creation of sutured and open wounds in skin of six dogs and treatment of "matched pair" wounds in each dog with rSVEP or physiologically buffered saline (PBS-Control) injected intradermally or subcutaneously; 3) objective determination of effects of treatment. Objective parameters that yielded significant data were: a) measurement of breaking strength of sutured wounds using tensiometry and b) rate of open wound healing calculated by sequential digitization of open wound area. Blood flow increased eight fold and lasted up to 72 hours in response to rSVEP. The median breaking strength of matched sutured wounds, tested on day 5, increased by 48 percent when treated with rSVEP applied by either method. Healing of open wounds was enhanced by 14 percent at Day 21 but only if the time 0 dose was given intradermally. These results support the hypothesis and indicate a novel new wound treatment.
In the past several years, studies have revealed a number of novel and highly potent factors in the saliva of blood-feeding insects that affect vertebrate blood flow. In addition to factors that target platelet activation and blood clotting, others work to increase blood flow in peripheral circulation (vasodilation) and thus enhance the ability of insects to obtain blood. Because of their specificity and potency, these molecules (mostly small molecular weight proteins) are strong candidates for therapeutic use in animal and human medicine, including treatment to increase blood supply to wound tissues. A 15 KDa protein that is a potent inducer of vasodilation was isolated from the salivary glands of the black fly, Simulium vittatum. Analysis of the cDNA, cloned from an S. vittatum salivary gland cDNA library, revealed a unique molecule (GenBank accession #U94515) that was named Simulium vittatum erythema protein (SVEP). To investigate its therapeutic potential for improving wound healing, a recombinant form (rSVEP) was produced in a baculovirus expression system and isolated to high purity using differential centrifugation and reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
A novel recombinant protein (rSVEP), originally discovered in insect saliva and known to increase blood flow, was tested with the hypothesis it would improve healing of surgically created wounds in the skin of beagle dogs. This hypothesis was tested in an experimental protocol that included: 1) use of laser Doppler perfusion imaging (LDPI) to determine dose-response and duration of blood flow increase to rSVEP injected intradermally; 2) creation of sutured and open wounds in skin of six dogs and treatment of "matched pair" wounds in each dog with rSVEP or physiologically buffered saline (PBS-Control) injected intradermally or subcutaneously; 3) objective determination of effects of treatment. Objective parameters that yielded significant data were: a) measurement of breaking strength of sutured wounds using tensiometry and b) rate of open wound healing calculated by sequential digitization of open wound area. Blood flow increased eight fold and lasted up to 72 hours in response to rSVEP. The median breaking strength of matched sutured wounds, tested on day 5, increased by 48 percent when treated with rSVEP applied by either method. Healing of open wounds was enhanced by 14 percent at Day 21 but only if the time 0 dose was given intradermally. These results support the hypothesis and indicate a novel new wound treatment.
In the past several years, studies have revealed a number of novel and highly potent factors in the saliva of blood-feeding insects that affect vertebrate blood flow. In addition to factors that target platelet activation and blood clotting, others work to increase blood flow in peripheral circulation (vasodilation) and thus enhance the ability of insects to obtain blood. Because of their specificity and potency, these molecules (mostly small molecular weight proteins) are strong candidates for therapeutic use in animal and human medicine, including treatment to increase blood supply to wound tissues. A 15 KDa protein that is a potent inducer of vasodilation was isolated from the salivary glands of the black fly, Simulium vittatum. Analysis of the cDNA, cloned from an S. vittatum salivary gland cDNA library, revealed a unique molecule (GenBank accession #U94515) that was named Simulium vittatum erythema protein (SVEP). To investigate its therapeutic potential for improving wound healing, a recombinant form (rSVEP) was produced in a baculovirus expression system and isolated to high purity using differential centrifugation and reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
