# Fibronectin Mimetics and Synergistic Ultrasound Therapy for Wound Healing in Aging

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2021 · $338,800

## Abstract

Chronic wounds have become a `silent epidemic', affecting 20 million people worldwide, including 5-7
million Americans. Non-healing wounds cause pain and discomfort for the patient, with health complications
ranging from serious infections to limb amputations to death. In the U.S. alone, health care costs for treating
chronic wounds are estimated to be $25 billion annually, with the majority of those costs directed at adults over
the age of 65. Specific interactions between cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM) form of fibronectin (FN)
control a broad range of functions essential to wound repair. ECM FN fibrils also serve as mechanosensory
elements in tissue, facilitating endothelial cytoskeletal reorganization and vasodilation. As such, restoring the
functional and structural properties of ECM FN within non-healing wounds holds immense promise as an
effective therapeutic approach to stimulate and facilitate tissue repair in older adults. To deliver ECM FN
signals directly to cells in chronic wounds, we developed a series of soluble FN fragments engineered to mimic
the ECM form of FN. These recombinant “FN matrix mimetics” stimulate cell and tissue functions to a similar or
greater extent than ECM FN. Moreover, topical application of FN matrix mimetics to full-thickness wounds in
young diabetic mice accelerates wound closure and promotes granulation tissue deposition, tissue remodeling,
and revascularization. The goals of this project are three-fold: (i) to advance our pre-clinical FN matrix mimetics
to the treatment of chronic wounds associated with aging, (ii) to use information obtained from these studies to
identify mechanisms of ECM remodeling that become dysregulated with age, and (iii) to identify synergistic
actions of FN matrix mimetics with adjuvant wound mechanotherapies, specifically therapeutic ultrasound. If
successful, our ECM FN-based therapies will help to fill a critical need for new and innovative approaches to
treat ulcerative wounds in aging, and will provide new information regarding ECM deficiencies in aging that will
inform the design of new treatment approaches.
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## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10174663
- **Project number:** 5R01AG058746-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** DIANE DALECKI
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $338,800
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10174663

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10174663, Fibronectin Mimetics and Synergistic Ultrasound Therapy for Wound Healing in Aging (5R01AG058746-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10174663. Licensed CC0.

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