[Gene therapy--therapeutic option in treatment of chronic wounds?].

Chronic wounds seem to be a severe problem in terms of its socioeconomical meaning due to the fact that the average age of patients suffering from these wounds is rising steadily. Therapy of chronic wounds is complicated and often not satisfying. Even application of local growth factors according to the latest findings in terms of cell and molecular regulatory mechanisms during wound healing does not lead to success because of the immediate inactivation of these growth factors in the wound fluid of chronic wounds. Knowing these facts one has to ask if new developments such as genetic modification of cells participating in wound healing may lead to sufficient results in the therapy of chronic wounds.