Elizabeth Kelley holding a cytokine-secreting patch. Credit: Jared Jones/Rice University
Chronic wounds remain a significant clinical challenge, in part because it is difficult to deliver sustained, localized immune signals that coordinate tissue repair. While cytokines play a central role in regulating inflammation and healing, conventional delivery approaches are often limited by rapid degradation and poor retention at the wound site.
Researchers at Rice University with the support of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad have developed a cytokine factory patch designed to address this challenge by continuously producing and delivering therapeutic cytokines directly within the wound environment. The approach is described in a study, titled "Cytokine factory patch for localized immunomodulation to accelerate healing in rodent and porcine excisional wound models," published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
The cytokine factory patch is a cell-based delivery platform that uses encapsulated, engineered cells as on-site "factories" to secrete cytokines, signaling proteins that regulate immune activity and tissue regeneration, over extended periods of time. By localizing cytokine production at the wound site, the system is designed to maintain therapeutic levels of these molecules where they are needed most.
