Autophagy-related protein expression in granulation tissue of patients with diabetic foot infection

Abstract

Objective To investigate the influence of diabetic foot infection on the expression of autophagic-related proteins in granulation tissue of wounds, and to provid a theoretical basis for the treatment of diabetic foot infection. Methods Total of 88 patients with diabetic foot infection admitted to The Central Hospital of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture from January 2013 to July 2017 were selected, among whom, 44 patients in the infection stage were selected as observation group, and 44 patients who were controlled after infection were collected as control group. According to the ankle brachial index (ABI), 44 patients of the observation group were divided into 20 patients with ischemia (ischemic group) and 24 patients with non-ischemia (non-ischemic group). The wound tissue was extracted from these patients. After further treatment, wound tissue were detected by immunohistochemical staining and Western blot, and the patients’name, age, height, weight, course of disease and so on were recorded, respectively, the changes of the patients’condition were observed closely. The levels of autophagy protein microtubule-binding light chain protein-3 (LC3), autophagy specific gene (Beclin-1) and ubiquitin binding protein (p62) in wound tissue were recorded in detail. Results Immunohistochemical staining showed that the levels of LC3 and Beclin-1 in the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group (t= 3.638,P= 0.0112; t = 2.682,P = 0.022), and the level of p62 was higher than that of the control group (t= 4.998,P= 0.009), all with significant differences. The levels of LC3 and Beclin-1 in the non-ischemic group were significantly higher than those of the ischemic group(t= 2.837,P = 0.018; t= 3.028, P= 0.012), and the level of p62 was lower than that of the ischemic group (t= 3.562,P = 0.010), the difference was statistically significant. The gray value of Beclin-1 in the study group was lower than that of the control group (t = 3.522,P= 0.013), while the gray value of p62 in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (t= 3.522, P= 0.013), with significant differences. However, the gray value of p62 was significantly higher than that of the control group (t = 6.927,P = 0.004), but the difference of LC3 gray value between the two groups was not significantly different (t = 1.037, P = 0.056). Conclusions The level of autophagy in patients with diabetic foot infection was lower than that in patients with ischemia, and the level of autophagy increased after infection control of diabetic foot. Key words: Diabetic foot infection; Granulation tissue of wound; Autophagy-related protein