TECHNOLOGY OFFER

TITLE
SILK SERICIN-BASED HYDROGEL, METHODS AND USES THEREOF — NOVEL SERICIN-
BASED HYDROGEL FOR WOUND CARE, A BY-PRODUCT OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY

HIGHLIGHTS
Complex wounds can generally be categorized into three types: pressure ulcers, venous leg
ulcers, and diabetic foot ulcers. The numbers of 18 million patients worldwide have turned
into one of the major clinical problems worldwide due to the morbidity associated with
prolonged periods required for repair and regeneration of the injured tissue, the bleeding,
and the risk for infections and septicaemias. The intervention of specialized wound care
emerges as a new era that may reform the common wound treatments, which will naturally
improve the patient’s life value.

CONTEXT
Wound care with all the medical advances still remains as a delicate managed area and for sure a
challenge domain for researchers worldwide. Currently, there are different types of dressings such
as: films/membranes (adherent or non-adherent), hydrogels, hydrocolloids, composite dressings,
foams, hydrophilic and hydrophobic fibers, hypertonic, and antimicrobial devices. Among the
different types of dressings, hydrogels comprise a high quantity of water (70%-90%), being
extremely hydrate, suitable for sloughy or necrotic wounds, able to fill the wound in shape and
depth and also being adequate matrices for bioactives incorporation (i.e. antimicrobials,
antioxidants, growth factors, etc). In this regard, growing efforts have been made to study
naturally derived biomaterials as hydrogel dressings. Collagen, alginates, and chitosan are some of
the most used systems in the market because of their biocompatibility, biodegradability and
similarity to macromolecules recognized by the human body.

BENEFITS
Among the new generation of natural-based biopolymers being proposed for wound healing and
skin regeneration, silk proteins (fibroin and sericin) are particularly interesting due to their
exceptional properties such as biocompatibility, oxygen and water vapour permeability,
antioxidant activity, enzymatic degradability, processing versatility and the diversity of side chain
chemistries available for ‘decoration’. Although sericin has received much less attention than
fibroin, is reported to exhibit several important biological activities such as: biocompatibility,
biodegradability, antioxidant behaviour, anti-tyrosinase activity, UV protective properties,
moisturizing capabilities, cryopreserving effect and serum-free culture medium.

PROOF OF CONCEPT
A new enzyme-triggered crosslinked hydrogel using sericin as a by-product of textile industry.

When tested, it showed the following properties:

• In situ gelling, able to fill the shape and depth of the wound in 3 minutes – this means that
the gel has a fast gelation, which is a requirement for clinical applications and it’s
exceptionally able to deep fill the complex wounds.
 TECHNOLOGY OFFER

• Transparency – which is a propriety

that allows the wound infection control,
and inflammatory stage’s monitoring.

• Natural biological proprieties:

antioxidant, hydrating, regenerative,
biocompatible, biodegradable, UV
protection, enhances cell recruitment
and proliferation – these proprieties
are natural of silk sericin and may
represent key factors in the tissue
regeneration process, are for sure required capabilities for a wound new biomaterial.
• Carrier for bioactive incorporation: the hydrogel could be a matrix with high potential for
new bioactive agent’s addition, such as antimicrobial, growth factors, coagulation agent
stem cells, ligand, platelet, and mixtures thereof.

POTENCIAL COMMERCIAL USE /APPLICATIONS

The biomaterial obtained with this technology besides all the biological potential in wound care, is
an effective way to valorise a by-product of textile industry.

The hydrogel should be licensing to companies of the pharmaceutical industry, preferable huge
companies specialist in wound care. Other pipeline products could be employed in different areas,
such as cosmetic, veterinary, for cell culture studies (as cell supplement).

INVENTORS AND RESEARCH UNIT

Ana Leite Oliveira, Sara Baptista da Silva, Sandra Borges, Paulo Alves

Centre for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia – Universidade
Católica Portuguesa.

COOPERATION OPTIONS
Sell the patent application

Licensing the exploitation rights

PATENT STATUS
Provisional Patent Nº 20121000004829

CONTACTS (ESB) E-MAIL PHONE

Ana Leite Oliveira aloliveira@porto.ucp.pt +351 22 558 0001