Chemokines in cutaneous wound healing

Abstract

Abstract Healing of wounds is one of the most complex biological events afterbirth as a result of the interplay of different tissue structures and alarge number of resident and infiltrating cell types. The latter aremainly constituted by leukocyte subsets (neutrophils, macrophages, mastcells, and lymphocytes), which sequentially infiltrate the wound siteand serve as immunological effector cells but also as sources ofinflammatory and growth-promoting cytokines. Recent data demonstratethat recruitment of leukocyte subtypes is tightly regulated bychemokines. Moreover, the presence of chemokine receptors on residentcells (e.g., keratinocytes, endothelial cells) indicates thatchemokines also contribute to the regulation of epithelialization,tissue remodeling, and angiogenesis. Thus, chemokines are in anexclusive position to integrate inflammatory events and reparativeprocesses and are important modulators of human-skin wound healing.This review will focus preferentially on the role of chemokines duringskin wound healing and intends to provide an update on the multiplefunctions of individual chemokines during the phases of woundrepair.