Biology of chronic wounds and new treatment strategies

Abstract

Impaired wound healing is the result of the interplay between patient-related factors, wound-related factors, skill and knowledge of the healthcare professional and resources and treatment-related factors. The study of wound-related factors learns us that healing is a very complex biologic process. Both ‘seed’ (differentiated and stem cells) and ‘soil’ (e.g. cytokines/chemokines, growth factors, matrix components) are essential for effective wound healing. Tissue engineering for chronic wounds has the potential to improve healing by providing an ‘ideal’ combination of cells and their local microenviroment. In this contribution we discuss new treatment strategies to improve wound-related factors by biomaterials, skin substitutes and stem cell-based therapies.