Authors: Brandon J. Sumpio, Zhuqing Li, Enya Wang, Ikram Mezghani, Georgios Theocharidis & Aristidis Veves
Abstract
Diabetic foot ulcers are a health crisis that affect millions of individuals worldwide. Current standard of care involves diligent wound care with adjunctive antibiotics and surgical debridement. However, despite this, the majority will still become infected and fail to heal. Recent efforts using bioengineered skin initially appeared promising, but randomized clinical trials have disappointed. Scientists have now begun to understand that the normal wound healing physiology does not apply to diabetic foot ulcers as they maintain a chronic state of inflammation and fail to progress in a linear pathway. Using transcriptomics, research over the past decade has started identifying master genes and protein pathways that are dysregulated in patients with diabetes. This review paper discusses those genes involved and how novel advancements are using this information to create new biologically based compounds to accelerate wound healing in patients with diabetic foot ulcers.
Key Summary Points |
Diabetic foot ulcers require a complex pathway of healing. |
Multiple master genes and pathways have been identified including hypoxia inducible factor-1α. |
Transcriptomics is a helpful research tool to allow clinicians to understand that genes or proteins are required to help heal diabetic foot ulcers. |