Nanotechnology Approaches in Chronic Wound Healing

[Significance]: The incidence of chronic wounds is increasing due to our aging population and the augment of people afflicted with diabetes. With the extended knowledge on the biological mechanisms underlying these diseases, there is a novel influx of medical technologies into the conventional wound care market.
[Recent Advances]: Several nanotechnologies have been developed demonstrating unique characteristics that address specific problems related to wound repair mechanisms. In this review, we focus on the most recently developed nanotechnology-based therapeutic agents and evaluate the efficacy of each treatment in in vivo diabetic models of chronic wound healing.
[Critical Issues]: Despite the development of potential biomaterials and nanotechnology-based applications for wound healing, this scientific knowledge is not translated into an increase of commercially available wound healing products containing nanomaterials.
[Future Directions]: Further studies are critical to provide insights into how scientific evidences from nanotechnology-based therapies can be applied in the clinical setting.
This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO/FEDER) through the project MAT2012–38793 and MAT2015-68906-R and the Dermoglass project funded by CaixaImpulse Programme of Obra Social La Caixa (CaixaImpulse CI0015). Barbara Blanco-Fernandez acknowledges the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant (agreement no. 712754) and the Severo Ochoa grant (SEV-2014-0425). O. Castano acknowledges the support from the Serra Hunter programme.