Pharmacology and Mechanisms of Skin Tissue Regeneration-Promoting Peptides

Maintaining the structure and function of the skin is vital to the human body. Wound repair is susceptible to multiple internal and external factors, which can result in scarring and the formation of chronic difficult-to-heal, or recurring wounds. Compromised wound healing makes clinical treatments increasingly difficult, predisposes to dehydration and infection, and can lead to ulcers, gangrene, amputation, and even death. Skin regeneration involves the interactions of many cell types, and is characterized by changes in their phenotypes and behavior. Moreover, a number of signaling pathways critically regulate wound healing. Therefore, these cells, receptors, and signaling pathways are important potential drug targets in trauma treatment research. At present, however, there is still a lack of safe interventions with improved efficacy for the clinical treatment of chronic/large-scale trauma. Therefore, research focusing on the discovery and development of new drug molecules and targets that promote skin tissue regeneration, can have major clinical significance and impact.

Despite recent advances in gene and stem cell therapy, current interventions are still inadequate, largely due to the extremely complex mechanisms underlying tissue regeneration. Therefore, the discovery, development, and analysis of new drugs remain critical. Peptides, which are characterized by their high activity, target specificity, and stability, play a unique role in basic scientific research and innovative drug development. They are not only powerful tools for the discovery and confirmation of new drug targets but serve as important candidates or lead molecules for the design of new drugs. In recent years, pro-healing peptides have attracted significant attention all over the world for their vast array of potential applications, including drug development and utilization as molecular probes to illustrate novel mechanisms involved in skin wound healing. As the related research is still in its infancy, many important key breakthroughs can be anticipated.

The topic “Pharmacology and mechanisms of skin tissue regeneration-promoting peptides” will include the following issues:
• Discovery of new peptides with efficacy to promote skin wound healing/tissue regeneration.
• Application of peptides as molecular tools to analyze the mechanisms of skin wound healing, focusing on (but not limited to) related signaling pathways and epigenetic mechanisms.
• Identification of new drug targets for improving skin wound healing.
• Peptide-based approaches to promote skin wound healing.