Growth Factor Therapy

Many of chronic wounds are delayed or fail to heal through conventional treatment because attenuated activities of cells responsible for wound healing contribute to the impairment of tissue restoration. The orderly and efficient progression of the wound healing sequence is orchestrated by intercellular communication, much of which is regulated by growth factors and cytokines. Consequently, there is a need for more effective therapy that will stimulate cellular activity of chronic wound patients. Recently, there has been much interest in treating these ulcers with various types of treatment modalities to stimulate cellular functions of chronic wound patients, including growth factors and cell therapies. It has long been hypothesized that using growth factors can promote healing of chronic wounds. Research is currently under way on methods to externally deliver growth factors depleted by diminished cell function in chronic wounds which would therefore facilitate healing; some of these are already being used in clinical settings. Products containing platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and epidermal growth factor (EGF) for topical use on diabetic foot ulcers are some examples. In this chapter, various growth factor therapies that are used clinically to increase cell activities are described.