Chronic wounds are associated with poor epidermal and dermal remodeling. Previous work has shown the efficacy of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) in reepithelialization and elastin in dermal wound healing. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of a fusion protein comprising of elastin-like peptides and KGF. This fusion protein retains the performance characteristics of KGF and elastin as evidenced by its enhancement of keratinocyte and fibroblast proliferation. It also preserved the characteristic elastin-like peptides inverse phase transitioning allowing the recombinant protein to be expressed in bacterial hosts (such as Escherichia coli ) and purified rapidly and easily using inverse temperature cycling. The fusion protein self-assembled into nanoparticles at physiological temperatures. When applied to full thickness, wounds in Lepr db diabetic mice these particles enhanced reepithelialization and granulation, by 2- and 3-fold respectively, when compared to the controls. The data strongly suggests that these self-assembled nanoparticles may be beneficial in the treatment of chronic wounds resulting from diabetes or other underlying circulatory conditions.

The c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) is an important player in inflammation, proliferation, and apoptosis. More recently, JNK was found to regulate cell migration by phosphorylating paxillin. Here, we report a novel role of JNK in cell adhesion. Specifically, we provide evidence that JNK binds to E-cadherin/beta-catenin complex and phosphorylates beta-catenin at serine 37 and threonine 41, the sites also phosphorylated by GSK-3beta. Inhibition of JNK kinase activity using dominant-negative constructs reduces phosphorylation of beta-catenin and promotes localization of E-cadherin/beta-catenin complex to cell-cell contact sites. Conversely, activation of JNK induces beta-catenin phosphorylation and disruption of cell contacts, which are prevented by JNK siRNA. We propose that JNK binds to beta-catenin and regulates formation of adherens junctions, ultimately controlling cell-to-cell adhesion.