Renewal of the NIDDK Diabetic Foot Consortium

May 2021 Council

Lead Division/Office

DEM

Point(s) of Contact

Executive Summary

Foot ulcers are a common and costly complication of diabetes that burden patients and their families with lengthy and often unsuccessful treatments frequently resulting in a lower extremity amputation. The NIDDK Diabetic Foot Consortium (DFC), initiated in 2018, is the first national consortium to study diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) to improve diabetic wound healing and prevent amputations. For its first objective of building a clinical research infrastructure, the DFC has created a multi-center network that has included active participation of the scientific leaders in wound healing from multiple disciplines and a Data Coordinating Center experienced in clinical studies. For its second objective of validating DFU biomarkers, protocols to test predictive biomarkers for healing (c-myc and phosphorylated glucocorticoid receptor, pGR) and recurrence (transepithelial water loss, TEWL) are currently enrolling participants at six clinical sites. These plans for the DFC renewal will build on the unique opportunity of a consortium that not only executes protocols, but also evaluates their implementation in areas such as recruitment and participant involvement. The specific aims for the renewal are: 1) Develop and validate DFU biomarkers; 2) Accelerate advances in standard of care through inclusive and comprehensive characterization of patients and their wounds and trials to optimize care; and 3) Expand training opportunities for early stage investigators.