More than skin deep

Burn victims could benefit from an experimental 'artifical skin' developed by researchers in Boston, Massachusetts, and Buffalo, New York. The skin contains genetically engineered cells which express keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), a protein which accelerates wound healing.

Lead researcher Stelios Andreadis of the chemical engineering department at the University of Buffalo explains that the KGF stimulates the formation of healthy skin cells. Moreover, these cells arrange themselves in the same way as healthy skin. 'What's significant about our skin substitute is that it contains the basement membrane — the matrix molecules that the cells of the epidermis like to sit on - that retains the natural composition and topography of skin,' Andreadis says.

The new substitute also promises to be easier to work with than the currently-available skin substitutes, which are made from collagen cells and have a gelatin-like consistency. Andreadis' skin substitute is much more pliable and mechanically stable, and provides a good barrier for keeping moisture in and pathogens out. 'This is very important for burn patients, who suffer from excessive dehydration and bacterial infections,' he says.

Andreadis and his colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriner Burns Hospital in Boston are now applying for a grant to conduct animal studies to check whether the skin, which has so far been tested only in vitro, has a therapeutic effect. If this is successful, the Food and Drug Administration could consider the product for approval for treating serious burns.