Papain for Wound Healing

Moderate evidence 28 studies

Research suggests that papain, a proteolytic enzyme derived from papaya, shows promise as a wound care agent, particularly for enzymatic debridement of necrotic tissue and as a component of advanced wound dressings. The available evidence includes systematic reviews, animal studies, and laboratory experiments examining papain in various forms—gels, hydrogels, nanoparticles, and composite dressings—with findings generally indicating that papain can facilitate removal of dead tissue, reduce inflammation, support collagen organization, and potentially limit hypertrophic scarring. Studies indicate that papain may work comparably to or faster than other enzymatic agents like collagenase in clearing necrotic tissue, and newer delivery systems combining papain with other bioactive compounds have shown encouraging results in preclinical models of chronic and diabetic wounds. However, the evidence base is limited by a predominance of animal and in vitro studies rather than rigorous randomized controlled trials, some reports of side effects such as burning and pain, regulatory concerns that led to its removal from the U.S. market, and a general lack of head-to-head comparisons with other treatments, meaning the overall picture remains mixed and further high-quality clinical research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.

Related studies

Citations from PubMed and preprint sources. Match score (0-100) reflects automated search ranking, not clinical appraisal.

Title Type Year Direction Match
Enzymatic wound debridement. Systematic review 2008 Supports 100
[Use and effectiveness of papain in the wound healing process: a systematic r... Systematic review 2012 Mixed 95
Proteolytic enzymes and wound debridement: a literature review. Review 2024 Mixed 90
Mechanical cues organize planar cell polarity during vertebrate morphogenesis... Other 2025 Neutral 85
Poly (γ-glutamic acid)/chitooligo-saccharide/papain hydrogel prevents hypertr... Other 2021 Supports 85
Mechanosensitive localization of Diversin highlights its function in vertebra... Other 2025 Neutral 80
Curcumin and Papain-Loaded Liposomal Natural Latex Dressings with Phototherap... Other 2025 Supports 80
Tissue Engineered Elastic Cartilage-Mimetic Auricular Grafts for Ear Reconstr... Other 2025 Neutral 75
Comparing the effectiveness of curcumin and papain in wound dresses based on ... Other 2025 Mixed 75
The brittle star genome illuminates the genetic basis of animal appendage reg... Other 2023 Neutral 70
Evaluating the Effect of 3% Papain Gel Application in Cutaneous Wound Healing... Other 2017 Supports 70
Bioassembly of region-specific fibrocartilage microtissues to engineer zonall... Other 2025 Neutral 65
Employing fruit juices to hydrolyze edible bird's nest and enhance the antiox... Other 2024 Mixed 65
Bioengineering Developmentally Inspired Matrix Vesicles as Designer Nanothera... Other 2025 Neutral 60
Functionalized Silk Fibroin and Mucin Hybrid Material for Targeted EGF and Pa... Other 2025 Supports 60
Comparison of Efficacy of Topical Carica papaya Leaf Extract and Hemocoagulas... Other 2024 Supports 55
Giant magnetoresistive biosensors for real-time quantitative detection of pro... Other 2020 Neutral 55
“Generation of morphologically distinct astrocyte subtypes from human iPSCs r... Other 2024 Neutral 50
Collagenase promotes the cellular responses to injury and wound healing in vivo. Other 2005 50
Cancer-associated fibroblast-derived ROR2 induces WNT/PCP activation and pola... Other 2022 Neutral 45
Effect of Carica papaya Extract toward Incised Wound Healing Process in Mice ... Other 2019 Supports 45
Adventitial fibroblasts direct smooth muscle cell-state transition in pulmona... Other 2024 Neutral 40
Inhibitors of cathepsin B. Review 2006 Neutral 40
SARS-CoV-2 infection of human brain microvascular endothelial cells leads to ... Other 2022 Neutral 35
Functional characterisation of bioactive peptide derived from terrestrial sna... Other 2018 Neutral 35
A modular framework for the development of targeted Covid-19 blood transcript... Other 2020 Neutral 30
Efficacy of papain-based wound cleanser in promoting wound regeneration. Other 2010 Supports 30
Longitudinal immune dynamics of mild COVID-19 define signatures of recovery a... Other 2021 Neutral 25

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