Blood protein markers to predict healing of diabetic foot wounds
Official title: Proteomic Biomarkers Prognostic for Diabetic Wound Healing
Funded at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · NIH-11173857 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks for patterns in blood proteins that can predict how well foot ulcers heal in people with diabetes.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project start | April 25, 2022 |
| Project end | August 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $550,414 |
| NIH project number | 5R33DK131915-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11173857 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with diabetes who currently have a foot ulcer or recent diabetic foot ulcer would be the ideal candidates to provide blood samples or join follow-up studies.
✕Less likely to help
People without diabetes or without any current foot ulcers are unlikely to benefit directly from this prognostic research.
What this research studies
If you have diabetes and a foot ulcer, this project would use blood samples to search for protein patterns linked to better or worse healing. Researchers will measure many circulating proteins and use statistical and machine-learning tools to combine them into a multi-protein signature. Early work has identified candidates including adhesion and inflammatory proteins and pointed to pathways like Wnt/β-catenin and c-Myc. The goal is a reliable blood-based test that could be validated in larger patient groups.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help identify people at high risk of poor healing so they can get closer monitoring or earlier treatments to prevent complications like amputation.
How similar studies have gone: Earlier smaller studies and pilot data have identified promising protein candidates and implicated relevant pathways, but a validated multi-protein prognostic test for diabetic foot ulcers is not yet established.
Where this research is happening
-
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Veves, Aristidis — Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Veves, Aristidis
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.