Burnt skin
Wang Gengxiang, known as "Masked Boy", folds up a piece of paper to make a paper plane in a kindergarden classroom at Mijiazhuang village on the outskirts of Fenyang, North China's Shanxi province September 8, 2011. Gengxiang, 6, was severely burned in an accident involving a pile of burning straw last winter, most of the skin on his head was burned off, requiring him to wear a full surgical mask to prevent the scars from becoming infected. The doctors disclosed that they cannot continue his skin-graft surgery until his damaged trachea, or windpipe, is strong enough, according to local media reports. Gengxiang is not allowed to attend classes at the kindergarden due to his personal safety and concerns about how his presence might affect other children at the kindergarden, according to his father. He is only allowed into the kindergarden to play during media visits. Picture taken on September 8, 2011. Reuters

Healing wounds from burns could now be better due to the development of a new regenerative medicine. Researchers have identified a new pathway in cells as the target of the drug capable to boost the full potential of treating burn victims in regenerating hair follicles and skin.

The drug uncovers the use of a newfound protein called toll-like receptor 3, or TLR3, which works as a master regulator in promoting skin and hair follicle regeneration, according to the study published in the journal, Cell Stem Cell. Researchers stated the drug targets the cell-signalling pathway to help the growth of new hair, and decreases scarring to skin and other organ tissues in burn victims.

Researchers from The John Hopkins University in Maryland discovered the cell-signalling pathway after conducting tests on two groups of mice with different healing capabilities: one with good skin and hair follicles regeneration, while the other with poor capabilities in healing wounds. They also found that the appearance of TLR3 was three times higher in the group of mice with good regeneration.

Senior author Luis Garza, associate professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the findings are “basically proving through a series of tests that if we turn on this pathway, good regeneration happens.” However, he added, if they turn the pathway off, there will be no such regeneration on the wound.

The TLR3 is a receptor that binds to a substance called double stranded RNA, or dsRNA, which signals damage and triggers an immune response. The protein also switches on two genes called IL6 and the STAT3, to enhance regeneration, and it activates other molecules effective in hair development and the gene EDAR - which makes another protein called ectodysplasin, important for skin development.

The researchers suggest that hair follicles could better attract all of the secondary structures that can help remodel and add function to the new skin. The process would help burns to look and act more like healthy skin.

Garza and his research team are currently working with drug companies to identify and develop compounds that can activate TLR3 and enhance regeneration. However, the development, researchers said, would take more years before clinical application.

In the present records from the World Health Organisation, burns are considered as public health problem worldwide, with estimate of 265,000 deaths every year. The most common victims are from low- and middle-income countries and almost half occur in the Southeast Asia region.

And in 2004, nearly 11 million people who suffered burns were recorded worldwide. In India, over one million people are moderately or severely burnt every year, WHO reported.

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