Prospects for the application of growth factors in wound healing

Abstract

As the largest organ of the body, human skin is multifunctional and enjoys two layers, the epidermis and the dermis, the separation of which is performed by a basement membrane zone. Skin protects the body against mechanical forces and infections. Skin wounds represent large and growing challenges to the healthcare systems globally. Skin wound healing, as a protective shield for the body against the external environment, includes interactions among cell types, the neurovascular system, cytokines, and matrix remodeling. Growth factors (GFs) affect the microenvironment of the wound, and cause rises in cell differentiation, proliferation, and migration. Administrating exogenous GFs has revealed potential in enhancing wound healing outcomes. The use of human GFs in the field of wound healing is becoming gradually more interesting, because of the low-invasive techniques required for their use. Reviewed here are the literatures on the healing of skin wounds with emphasize on the role of GFs and their future prospects, containing profits, and probable long-standing side effects accompanied with their use.

Keywords:

• Growth factors
• wound healing
• skin

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Research Center, Aging Research Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran for supporting this work.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Author contributions

Sanam Dolati wrote the manuscript. Alireza Pishgahi edited the final version of the manuscript. Salman Nourbakhsh and Behzad Pourabbas designed and wrote manuscript and also drew figures and submitted the paper. Mehdi Yousefi and Seyed Kazem Shakouri supervised the study and correspondence during the paper submission.