Scaffolds with spatiotemporally controlled growth factor delivery and cyclodextrin-enabled antagonism of growth factor receptor sequestration promote cutaneous wound healing.

Abstract

Chronic wounds present a major burden to patients, health care professionals, and health care systems worldwide, yet treatment options remain limited and often ineffective. Although initially promising, growth factor-based therapies displayed limited and underwhelming effectiveness largely due to poor bioavailabilbioity and impaired receptor function within the chronic wound microenvironment. Here we demonstrate that chronic wounds exhibit elevated cholesterol synthesis, which disrupts growth factor signaling by sequestering receptors within lipid rafts. To address this, we developed a novel therapy combining growth factors with cyclodextrin in an ECM-mimetic scaffold, enabling localized cholesterol modulation and improved receptor accessibility. We demonstrate that this approach enhances growth factor bioavailability and functionality, creating a regenerative environment. In both human ex vivo and diabetic mouse wound models, this targeted co-delivery strategy significantly improved healing outcomes by stimulating angiogenesis and re-epithelialization, supporting a promising new direction for chronic wound therapy through localized metabolic modulation of the wound niche.