Silk produced by honeybees could be used in the development of “intelligent” dressings for chronic wounds, capable of responding to the conditions present at the wound site. The possibility is being studied by researchers from CSIRO and Adelaide University in Australia, who demonstrated that biodegradable films produced from this protein are well tolerated by the body and do not interfere with the healing process.
The study, published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials, evaluated the behavior of honeybee silk films during wound healing. The researchers found that a significant portion of the material degrades progressively within the wound itself, rather than remaining as a permanent material.
This feature could reduce the need to remove the dressing during healing, avoiding disturbance to the tissues that are regenerating.
The honeybee silk used in the study is produced via genetic engineering. Unlike silkworm silk or spider silk, it is a protein used by bee larvae to build protective structures in the hive. According to the researchers, its protein sequence can be modified without compromising the material’s structure, enabling the exploration of new functionalities.
“It’s like thinking of the film as a building material that we can redesign at the molecular level,” explains Caitlin Johnston, CSIRO’s principal investigator.
The team plans, in the future, to introduce specific instructions into the silk that allow the dressing to respond to the wound environment. Among the possibilities is the incorporation of signals capable of detecting an infection or mechanisms to release medications in a targeted manner.
“We can potentially incorporate specific instructions into the silk so that, in the future, a dressing can respond to the conditions present in a wound, rather than functioning only as a passive barrier,” says the researcher.
The next step is already in preparation. The team has received funding from the Medical Research Future Fund to develop and test several models of “intelligent” dressings aimed at helping to prevent infections in chronic wounds.
In Australia, chronic wounds affect around 450,000 people per year and represent a cost of more than six billion Australian dollars to the health system. Infections can delay healing, increase the risk of hospitalization and amputation, and require repeated clinical interventions.
For Anna Antipov, of Adelaide University, it was first necessary to understand how the new material behaved during healing before adding more complex functions.
“What we have demonstrated is that this honeybee silk material is biodegradable and well tolerated by the body, and, above all, that it does not hinder wound healing,” she says.
The researchers hope that the technology can particularly benefit people living in rural and remote areas, reducing the need for frequent dressing changes and travel to specialized centers in major cities.
The work results from more than a decade of CSIRO research on honeybee silk as a platform for biomedical materials. Earlier studies indicated that the material is robust, flexible, biodegradable, and safe for biological applications.
