Intercytex' skin graft "fully integrates" after 28 days

Cambridge, UK-based Intercytex says that the results of a recently-completed clinical trial show that laboratory-made living human skin has been fully and consistently integrated into the human body for the first time. ICX-SKN contrasts with all other living skin graft alternatives which biodegrade in situ after a matter of weeks, the firm noted.

In the trial data, published in the July 26 issue of Regenerative Medicine, a full-thickness skin sample was excised from the upper arm of six volunteers and replaced with Intercytex' skin graft replacement product, ICX-SKN. After 28 days, both visual and histological analysis showed that, in all volunteers, the ICX-SKN grafts were rapidly vascularized and overgrown with the hosts' own cells, resulting in a fully-integrated skin graft that had closed and healed the wound site, the firm noted.

ICX-SKN comprises a collagen-based matrix produced by the same skin cells - human fibroblasts - that are responsible for laying down the collagen in natural skin. The fibroblasts weave a collagen structure which mimics that found in skin and which shares many of the structural attributes of skin. Intercytex' scientists believe that the combination of living human fibroblasts in a human fibroblast-produced matrix underpins the integration and acceptance of ICX-SKN by the host skin.