Wound Healing

1. Role of Sox Transcription Factors in Wound Healing and Angiogenesis

1.

Researcher(s):

Dr Ian Darby, School of Medical Sciences, RMIT University.

Title:
Role of Sox Transcription Factors in Wound Healing and Angiogenesis.

Aim:
This project is aimed at better understanding how blood vessels grow during wound repair. After tissue damage, new blood vessels form by a process called angiogenesis. The growth of these vessels re-establishes the blood supply to damaged areas.

Summary:
Some of the factors that control this process have been discovered, such as growth factors released by cells close to the site of damage. We have recently described a new factor that is involved in signalling the nucleus of cells involved in the development of new vessels.

This factor was first described in embryological development where it is involved in vessel growth. It is then only switched on when it is needed in adult life, during vessel growth after tissue damage (wound healing) but also in vessels growing in tumours.

As vessel growth is needed for efficient wound healing it is of great interest to know how this factor works, particularly how it controls endothelial cell function (the cells that are responsible for small vessel growth). The possibility that it could be switched on when new vessels are needed, such as in wounds or switched off in situations where vessel growth is undesirable (such as in tumours) makes it a target molecule for future treatment of diseases where angiogenesis is implicated.