title: Growth factors in wound healing: the present and the future?
abstract: Numerous clinical studies have confirmed the pivotal role growth factors play in wound healing and their diminished levels in the chronic wound. Despite promising early studies treating chronic wounds with growth factors, results with traditional bolus dosing of a single growth factor have yielded insignificant results. Disappointing results have been theorized to be the result of growth factors inherent short half-life, a hostile microenvironment rich in protease activity, and poor delivery mechanisms failing to deliver effective dosages in an appropriate temporal manner. Advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have provided technologies capable of delivering multiple growth factors in a spatially oriented approach. These technologies include polymer systems, scaffolds, and hydrogels that have demonstrated improved response by target tissues when growth factors are delivered in this biomimetic fashion. With improved delivery systems, treatment of chronic wounds with growth factors has the potential to accelerate healing in a manner not previously realized with traditional delivery approaches.
authors.affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: tdinh@bidmc.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Thanh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dinh
authors.affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Shawn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Braunagel
authors.affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Barry I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
mesh_terms: D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000639:trends*; D014945:Wound Healing
chemical_list: D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
keywords: Epidermal growth factor; Fibroblast growth factor; Growth factors; Platelet-derived growth factor; Transforming growth factor; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Wound healing