About Regenerex Pharma, Inc.
Regenerex Pharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2021. Regenerex has corporate offices located in Gordansville, Tennessee and a manufacturing facility in Memphis, Tennessee.
Chronic wounds often remain stuck in a state of ongoing inflammation. In this
environment, enzymes called proteases can become overactive. Instead of only clearing
damaged tissue, they can also break down proteins and structures that are needed for
healing, including growth factors and collagen. This creates a challenging environment for
both the wound itself and for advanced wound healing products targeting the problem.
This protease-rich environment can affect growth factors, collagen products, and cellular
and tissue-based products. Earlier studies reported MMP activity to be roughly 30-fold
higher in chronic than in acute wound fluid. In another analysis, average protease activity
was reported to be more than 100 times higher. The exact level varies between wounds and
between individual proteases, but the overall pattern is clear: excessive or dysregulated
protease activity can interfere with normal healing and break down important components
such as growth factors and extracellular matrix.
Growth factors are particularly vulnerable to a protease-rich wound environment. In vitro testing found significantly higher degradation of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in chronic wound fluid, with a mean degradation of 28.1%, compared with only 0.6% in acute wound fluid. This degradation was associated with reduced biological activity of EGF.
The problem is not limited to EGF. Chronic wound fluid has also been shown to degrade other growth factors, including PDGF-BB and TGF-β1. This degradation was associated with increased elastase activity. Topically applied growth factors, such as becaplermin (PDGF-BB), therefore enter the same protease-rich environment that can degrade the wound’s own growth factors.
Collagen products face a similar challenge because collagen itself is a target of proteolytic enzymes. In wounds with excessive protease activity, these enzymes can contribute to breakdown of the extracellular matrix (ECM), including collagen. Continued breakdown of the ECM can interfere with normal wound healing and delay progression to the proliferative phase.
This principle is also used therapeutically. Some collagen-based matrices are designed to bind or inactivate excessive proteases, helping to protect the patient’s own ECM and growth factors. In this way, the applied collagen can function partly as a sacrificial substrate or protective decoy, rather than simply as material that directly rebuilds tissue.
CTPs are also applied to the same wound environment. Their cells, extracellular matrix, growth factors, and other bioactive components may all be affected when protease activity is excessive.
High MMP levels have also been associated with failure of dermal graft integration in diabetic foot ulcers, supporting the importance of the wound environment for these therapies. More generally, excessive protease activity can break down matrix proteins and bioactive molecules and interfere with the signals needed for normal tissue repair.
This helps explain why careful wound-bed preparation is important before applying CTPs. Reducing factors that maintain excessive inflammation and protease activity can help create a more favorable environment for these products to function.
The underlying challenge is therefore relevant to all three product categories: growth factors, collagen products, and CTPs. All depend, to some extent, on a wound environment in which their active or structural components can remain functional.
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If you have questions regarding diabetic foot ulcers and how Regenerex technology can help the healing process, please contact us.
Regenerex Pharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2021. Regenerex has corporate offices located in Gordansville, Tennessee and a manufacturing facility in Memphis, Tennessee.
