For decades, doctors have known that high levels of a protein called SerpinB3 in the blood are a warning sign of serious illness.
It often appears in people with aggressive cancers or severe inflammatory conditions, signaling that something is going wrong in the body.
But new research from Arizona State University has uncovered an unexpected twist—SerpinB3 also plays a natural, beneficial role in healing wounds.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that SerpinB3 helps the body repair damaged skin.
This finding changes how scientists think about this long-misunderstood protein and opens the door to potential new treatments for both chronic wounds and cancer.
SerpinB3 is part of a large family of proteins called serpins, short for “serine protease inhibitors.” These proteins regulate important biological processes like blood clotting, inflammation, and tissue repair. When their balance is disrupted, they can contribute to diseases such as fibrosis, inflam…
Researchers have now discovered that SerpinB3 is also part of the body’s natural wound-healing system. When the skin is injured, the protein helps trigger cell movement and tissue repair.
In their experiments, the team found that SerpinB3 levels surged in damaged skin, especially in wounds treated with advanced biomaterial dressings. These dressings, developed in earlier research, were shown to boost the body’s natural healing response.
By tracking how genes behave during the healing process, the researchers found that SerpinB3 works like a signal that activates keratinocytes—specialized skin cells that close wounds. When SerpinB3 is present, these cells become more mobile, less sticky, and better able to move into the wound site.
As a result, wounds closed faster and more completely. In laboratory tests, adding SerpinB3 helped skin cells heal as effectively as treatments using Epidermal Growth Factor, a well-known molecule that speeds up skin rep…
Under the microscope, wounds treated with extra SerpinB3 showed stronger and more organized collagen fibers—the structures that give skin its strength and flexibility. This suggests that SerpinB3 not only helps wounds close but also supports proper tissue rebuilding, leading to stronger, healthier skin.
“This journey started with our work on biomaterials that help repair tissue,” said Professor Kaushal Rege, a senior author of the study and director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Biomaterials Innovation and Translation.
“When we looked at how our materials were promoting healing, SerpinB3 suddenly appeared as a key factor. What was once thought of as a cancer marker turned out to be part of the body’s natural healing machinery.”
His colleague, Assistant Professor Jordan Yaron, added that this discovery changes how we understand the relationship between cancer and wound healing.
“When we examined healing skin, we saw that cells moving into the wound were producing large amounts of SerpinB3. It became clear that this protein is a normal part of how humans repair damage. Cancer cells, however, hijack this same mechanism to grow and spread.”
The dual nature of SerpinB3—helpful in healing but dangerous in excess—offers intriguing medical possibilities. If scientists can learn to boost SerpinB3 activity safely, it might become a therapy for people with slow-healing wounds, such as those caused by diabetes, burns, or infections.
On the other hand, finding ways to block the protein in cancer cells could help stop tumors from growing and spreading.
Chronic wounds remain a huge health problem. In the United States alone, about six million wounds occur each year, costing roughly $20 billion in treatment and care.
Many of these wounds heal slowly and can lead to serious infections or amputations, particularly in people with diabetes or poor circulation. Discoveries like this one could pave the way for more effective therapies that use the body’s own repair systems to heal faster and better.
In short, this research gives new meaning to a once-feared molecule. SerpinB3, long viewed as a marker of disease, turns out to be one of the body’s secret weapons for repair. Understanding how it works may not only improve wound care but also inspire new approaches to treating cancer and inflammation.
By revealing the surprising dual role of SerpinB3, scientists at Arizona State University have shown how studying nature’s own healing systems can lead to breakthroughs in both regenerative medicine and cancer research.
If you care about cancer, please read studies that a low-carb diet could increase overall cancer risk, and vitamin D supplements could strongly reduce cancer death.
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The study is published in PNAS.
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