Health and Function Research

Hypertrophic Scarring After Burn Injury

Reducing pathology is an important part of rehabilitation of burns. Perhaps the most devastating sequel to a burn injury is the resulting hypertrophic (raised, red, itchy and unattractive) scarring. This outcome significantly interferes with work and community living. Our understanding of when and why this scarring occurs is limited, mainly due to the lack of an animal model for study. Thirty years ago, the medical literature reported on the female, red Duroc pig as a potential animal model, yet no subsequent studies were reported. In the mid 90s, we began a new exploration into this model to determine if it is useful for studying hypertrophic scarring. We have now validated this Duroc/Yorkshire model of fibroproliferative scarring. In addition, we have obtained tissue from shallow and deep wounds in both breeds, extracted and amplified the mRNA, and hybridized the Affymetrix Porcine GeneChip. We are now assembling gene expression pathways that might be responsible for fibroproliferative scarring. The primary investigator for this project is Loren Engrav, MD.

This project received special recognition from the NIDRR Annual Performance Assessment Expert Review (APAER) as published in the "News From NIDRR", Summer 2007

APAER is a portfolio-level qualitative assessment by an expert panel of the quality and relevance of NIDRR-funded research in a given area, and the extent to which grantee accomplishments (i.e., outputs and outcomes) are contributing to the agency’s long-term performance goals and measures.

Expert panel members for the 2006 APAER on NIDRR’s health and function domain were drawn from leading university and medical research centers, other federal agencies and consumer organizations. The two primary sources of data for this review were award abstracts and accomplishments, submitted by grantees through the 2006 Annual Performance Review system.

The 2006 APAER for NIDRR’s health and function domain consisted of 128 awards. Topics included stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), prosthetics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, assistive technology related to function, burn rehabilitation, neuromuscular disorders, and consumer interests.

Thirty-one of the 188 health and function accomplishments submitted were singled out as particularly noteworthy. Among the noteworthy accomplishments were:

Developing an animal model of hypertrophic scarring, a significant burn sequela, that is leading to new knowledge in etiology and treatment of burns. There has been no significant change in treatment of scarring in the past three decades due to the lack of an accepted animal model. This animal model is being used in other research, and the grantee, University of Washington Burn Injury Rehabilitation Model System, has received NIH funding to further validate the model.

Results from studies completed during previous cycles in this domain may be seen in the section on Publications/Abstracts/Newsletters.