Abstract
Chronic wounds are a growing clinical concern worldwide with only a few treatment options available to address the fundamental causes of non-healing wounds. There is increasing evidence that the colonization of chronic wounds by bacteria growing within biofilms complicates treatment with conventional antibiotics and prevents proper wound healing. Compounding the issue is a relative lack of appropriate animal models that accurately capture the etiology and clinical features of chronic wounds. In the present work, we outline the role of natural host defense peptides (HDPs) on the wound healing process and highlight the potential of synthetic HDP derivatives as novel therapeutic molecules to treat long-lasting wounds. In particular, we will summarize many of the animal models available to study chronic wound infections and discuss recent results that describe the efficacy of synthetic HDPs and their ability to promote wound closure in vivo. We propose that novel synthetic HDPs that are optimized for both anti-biofilm and wound healing properties could 1 day provide additional support to help treat chronic wounds and improve patient welfare.