As the incidence of diabetes continues to increase in the western world, the prevalence of chronic wounds related to this condition continues to be a major focus of wound care research. Additionally, over 50% of chronic wounds exhibit signs and symptoms that are consistent with localized bacterial biofilms underlying severe infections that contribute to tissue destruction, delayed wound-healing and other serious complications. Most current biomedical approaches for advanced wound care aim at providing antimicrobial protection to the open wound together with a matrix scaffold (often collagen-based) to boost reestablishment of the skin tissue. Therefore, the present review is focused on the efforts that have been made over the past years to find peptides possessing wound-healing properties, towards the development of new and effective wound care treatments for diabetic foot ulcers and other skin and soft tissue infections.
Keywords: antimicrobial; chronic infection; diabetes; peptides; skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI); ulcers; wound-healing.