An insight into molecular targets and nanotherapeutics for diabetic wound healing.

Objective: This article reviewed the recent research findings of diabetic wound healing including molecular targets, signaling pathways, and nanotherapeutics for diabetic wound healing.

Significance: The prevalence of diabetes (DI) is rising daily throughout the world, and one of the main issues for diabetic patients is poor wound healing. Therefore, new molecular target identification and advanced drug delivery systems development are necessary for the effective treatment of diabetic wounds.

Method: In this review, we briefly discussed the different molecular targets for selective drug delivery to the diabetic wound. This review also elaborated on the recent nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems for the healing of diabetic wounds.

Results: The diabetic wound healing (DIWH) process follows the partial or uncoordinated route and delays the acute and chronic wound healing. Therefore, various molecular targets have been explored for the treatment of DIWH such as growth factors, cytokines, neuropeptides, immunomodulators, chemokines, and epigenetic regulators. Several signaling pathways were also investigated as a molecular target for diabetic wound healing like STAT3 pathway, HIF-1 signaling, AMPK signaling, Akt/mTOR pathway, and Notch signaling. Advanced drug delivery systems such as nanofibers, nanoparticulate systems, nanogels, and gene therapy showed promising results in diabetic wound healing.

Conclusion: This review summarized the pathogenesis, challenges, molecular targets, conventional therapy, and nanotherapeutics for DIWH. Development in the area of new molecular targets and molecular targeting approaches using nanotechnology offer a promising treatment option for diabetic wounds. Further clinical studies are still needed to prove the potential of nanotherapeutics for diabetic wound healing.