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Silk sericin ameliorates wound healing and its clinical efficacy in burn wounds

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of silk sericin, a protein from silkworm cocoon, on scratch wound healing in vitro. For applicable result in clinical use, we also study the efficacy of sericin added to a standard antimicrobial cream, silver zinc sulfadiazine, for open wound care in the treatment of second-degree burn wounds. In vitro scratch assays show that sericin at concentration 100 μg/mL can promote the migration of fibroblast L929 cells similar to epidermal growth factor (positive control) at 100 μg/mL. After 1 day of treatment, the length of scratch in wounds treated with sericin was significantly shorter than the length of negative control wounds (culture medium without sericin). For clinical study, a total of 29 patients with 65 burn wounds which covered no less than 15 % of total body surface area were randomly assigned to either control (wounds treated with silver zinc sulfadiazine cream) or treatment (wounds treated with silver zinc sulfadiazine with added sericin cream) group in this randomized, double-blind, standard-controlled study. The results showed that the average time to reach 70 % re-epithelialization of the burned surface and complete healing in the treatment group was significantly shorter, approximately 5–7 days, than in the control group. Regarding time for complete healing, control wounds took approximately 29.28 ± 9.27 days, while wounds treated with silver zinc sulfadiazine with added sericin cream took approximately 22.42 ± 6.33 days, (p = 0.001). No infection or severe reaction was found in any wounds. This is the first clinical study to show that silk sericin is safe and beneficial for burn wound treatment when it is added to silver sulfadiazine cream.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Thailand Research Fund which is a government operated, non-profit organization for research support.

Conflict of interest

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioactive Resources for Innovative Clinical Applications Research Unit, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Pornanong Aramwit

  2. Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Payathai Road, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Pornanong Aramwit & Sirinoot Palapinyo

  3. Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Drug Delivery System Excellence Center, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkla, 90110, Thailand

    Teerapol Srichana

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute, Nontaburi, 11000, Thailand

    Suthat Chottanapund

  5. Burn Unit, Trauma Division, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine-Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10700, Thailand

    Pornprom Muangman

Authors
  1. Pornanong Aramwit
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  2. Sirinoot Palapinyo
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  3. Teerapol Srichana
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  4. Suthat Chottanapund
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  5. Pornprom Muangman
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Correspondence to Pornanong Aramwit.

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Aramwit, P., Palapinyo, S., Srichana, T. et al. Silk sericin ameliorates wound healing and its clinical efficacy in burn wounds. Arch Dermatol Res 305, 585–594 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-013-1371-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-013-1371-4

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