Novel biologically active proteases in Carica papaya ripe fruit extracts for medicinal use

Chronic or non-healing wounds are a growing concern among healthcare professionals worldwide given a globally ageing population and the rise in incidence of diabetes and obesity. OPAL filtrates A and B, patented extracts from Carica papaya ripe fruit, have already shown efficacy at aiding chronic wound healing in clinical settings. Proteases are enzymes able to hydrolyse peptide bonds and they promote wound healing by degrading dead tissue, a process called debridement; they are offered as actives in debriding products. The FDA however banned commercial cysteine protease based products as they are derived from latex and triggered allergies. We now report multiple forms of active proteases in the latex free OPAL extracts using spectrophotometric and zymography methods, which make them active in debriding and even superior to pure papain solutions using Artificial Wound Eschar (AWE) debriding assay. This is the first time the active proteases were identified in ripe fruit of Carica papaya and also the first time an extract containing such proteases has been shown to degrade the wound eschar protein model. The fact that its debriding activity is higher then that of equivalent amounts of latex papain and the effect, unlike for papain, was insensitive to urea supplementation hinting at the presence of additional adjuvant factors in the extract. Taken together these findings rationalize and endorse the use of OPAL filtrates in the treatment of non-healing chronic wounds.

Wound Healing properties of OPAL A (patented Carica papaya fruit extract)