Abstract
Ruzehaji, Nadira
PhD candidate, Department of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, The University of Adelaide and Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute
Winning the battle against burns and scars in children
Burns are a major cause of injury among children aged 0 to 14 years. By the age of five, 1 in 200 children will be admitted to hospital as a result of a burn. Health-care costs associated with burn-related complications are high. Patients with burns often require multiple surgeries and frequent dressing changes followed by prolonged rehabilitation. Burn victims can be left with lifelong scarring and disability reducing their quality of life. Due to the poor outcome of existing therapies new studies aimed at developing effective treatments for burns and prevention of overzealous scarring are of paramount importance.
Over the past 8 years we have studied the function of Flightless protein, which we have shown to be involved in wound healing. Our previous experiments showed that reducing the level of Flii protein improves healing. We proposed that reducing the level of this harmful protein in the skin would improve burn injury repair. Our studies showed that reducing Flightless protein promoted rapid burn wound closure. We concluded that our therapy may be an efficient solution for the treatment of burns and prevention of scarring in children.