14 DAY TRIAL // Salamanders amaze us with their ability of regrowing limbs, but till we are able to do the same with our own limbs based on the salamanders' model, their relatives, the frogs, are on the way of delivering us a drug for correcting nasty facial scars. This would be the result of a team's research at Manchester University in Northern England, also investigating the amphibians' ability of regrowing limbs.
"Human and amphibian proteins are very similar. That means the lessons you learn from frogs and salamanders are applicable to humans. Their embryos - spawn - are also easier to study." said Professor Enrique Amaya.
The tissue regeneration research started 10 years ago, when the researchers led by Professor Mark Ferguson found that most amphibians' embryos recovered completely from cut injuries compared to adults. Adult amphibians can present many skin scars, which is not the case with embryos.
"The protein responsible for this recovery is known as Transforming Growth Factor Beta 3. It is present in small amounts in adults, but in large amounts in embryos, where it plays a key role in helping skin to multiply inside in a rapidly growing embryo," said Ferguson.
Based on isolated TGF Beta 3 protein, the team has developed a drug named Juvistam, now in phase 2 clinical trials. "Juvista could soon be used as a treatment for alleviating scarring during surgery. After surgery for really severe accidents, patients can be left with really disfiguring scars. Using Juvista, which you inject into the skin during the operation, we've found we can reduce scarring by a significant amount." said Ferguson.
"We are not doing this to help women who want to remove bags from under their eyes. We want to help people who suffered really nasty facial deformities after accidents. We are close to getting medicines that will reduce scars in accident victims." said Amaya.
The team made its researches on African clawed frogs (from the genus Xenopus), highly employed lab test animals, once used for pregnancy tests: if females are injected with urine coming from a pregnant woman, they will soon start laying eggs.