Pressure injuries, also called pressure ulcers or bed sores, refer to damage or wounds in the skin caused by placing pressure on the skin, most often over bony areas of the body (eg. heels, hips, tailbone). This often occurs when the patient has been sitting or lying for too long in one position. Pressure injury wounds are difficult to treat and heal, and the skin rarely returns to its original strength due to incomplete healing. As a result, pressure injuries can often re-occur in the same place. 

The laboratory of Dr. David Granville from the University of British Columbia has identified a new approach to treat these highly debilitating wounds that not only promotes healing but improves strength of the wound to reduce recurrence. Dr. Granville’s team has discovered that a protein called Granzyme B – that cuts other proteins like a pair of scissors – is elevated in aging skin and chronic non-healing wounds, contributes to pressure injury progression and impairs healing. Deletion of Granzyme B in an experimental model of pressure injury in aging skin improves healing and importantly, increases the strength of the healed wound, thereby reducing likelihood of recurrence. His team has recently identified 3 Health Canada-approved, plant-derived compounds (C1, C2, and C3) that are safe and inhibit the cutting activity of Granzyme B. 

Dr. David Granville has partnered with Heather Mak, the Executive Director, Professional Practice and Education, Nursing at Vancouver Coastal Health, to further their understanding of the plant-derived compounds (C1, C2, and C3), create gels containing the compounds that can be applied to the skin and test them in an established model of pressure injury. Findings from these studies will advance the understanding of pressure injuries and lead to the development of a novel therapeutic gel for the treatment of pressure injuries.