A Glimpse into the Future of Chronic Wound Healing and Regenerative Medicine Using Self-Assembling Peptides

Chronic wounds are non-healing wounds, which cease the normal healing process at the inflammatory stage. Diabetic, pressure, venous, and arterial ulcers are the most common chronic wounds. It takes about 2-3 months to identify a nonhealing wound as a chronic wound, which is usually characterized by overactive neutrophils and excess proteases. Current treatment options fail in about 60% of the cases, leading to severe pain, amputation, and sepsis. Lack of cost effective treatment options and rapidly growing health care costs underline the need for meticulous wound care methods. The definitive treatment for chronic wounds is to provide an acellular dermal matrix that stimulates cellular migration, survival, and proliferation to accelerate wound closure. The purpose of this review is to focus on the recent developments and capabilities of stem cells and self-assembling peptide hydrogels in the process of developing safer and effective wound care.