Medical breakthrough could help 'repair' wounded soldiers.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: UP FRONT

Wounded troops returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan could, in time, benefit from potentially groundbreaking medical research in tissue repair.

A newly created form of protein known as "elastin" may one day be used to build replacement body parts--such as eardrums, parts of the stomach and intestines, bladders and blood vessels. This technology would allow surgeons to "build a person from the molecular level," says Kenton Gregory, chief cardiologist at the Oregon Medical Laser Center, in Portland, Ore.

The U.S. Army Combat Casualty Care program so far has funded $20 million worth of research work at the medical laser center, Gregory says in an interview.

"The military has had 500 amputations, plus several thousand wounded who could benefit from tissue repair," he says.

Elastin is being studied as a possible means to "put injured soldiers back together," Gregory explains. After nearly a decade worth of research, his lab has found the human gene for elastin, he says. Elastin is a durable, stable protein that makes up human tissue. The thinking is that the body won't reject replacement parts that have the patient's own DNA.

"Based on natural protein, we developed a whole series of tissue-repair parts for the stomach, esophagus, skin, arteries," Gregory says. "We are developing cell therapy program to help regenerate tissue."

The lab also pioneered "laser-fusion" technology for instantly sealing and healing issue, he adds. Laser welding science has been around for 20 years, but is still an experimental technology. It is scheduled to begin medical trials in the United States in the coming months.

He says he is confident that the Food and Drug Administration will approve the technology to treat human patients. "We've been repairing pigs for about five years. It's about ready to be transferred safely to people."

Getting FDA certification, especially for high-risk devices, requires years of research and animal trials.

Elastin-based tissue also could be employed to make a "bridge" to attach prostheses. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is interested in this technology, and has held discussions with scientists from the Oregon Medical Laser Center, says Gregory.

If the medical...