Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
BioDrugs. 2012 Jun 1;26(3):163-75. doi: 10.2165/11631850-000000000-00000.
Growth factors are soluble secreted proteins capable of affecting a variety of cellular processes important for tissue regeneration. Consequently, the self-healing capacity of patients can be augmented by artificially enhancing one or more processes important for healing through the application of growth factors. However, their application in clinics remains limited due to lack of robust delivery systems and biomaterial carriers. Interestingly, all clinically approved therapies involving growth factors utilize some sort of a biomaterial carrier for growth factor delivery. This suggests that biomaterial delivery systems are extremely important for successful usage of growth factors in regenerative medicine. This review outlines the role of growth factors in tissue regeneration, and their application in both pre-clinical animal models of regeneration and clinical trials is discussed. Additionally, current status of biomaterial substrates and sophisticated delivery systems such as nanoparticles for delivery of exogenous growth factors and peptides in humans are reviewed. Finally, issues and possible future research directions for growth factor therapy in regenerative medicine are discussed.
生长因子是可溶性分泌蛋白，能够影响组织再生过程中许多重要的细胞过程。因此，通过应用生长因子人为地增强一个或多个对愈合很重要的过程，可以增强患者的自我愈合能力。然而，由于缺乏强大的递送系统和生物材料载体，它们在临床上的应用仍然受到限制。有趣的是，所有涉及生长因子的临床批准疗法都使用某种生物材料载体来输送生长因子。这表明生物材料递送系统对于生长因子在再生医学中的成功应用至关重要。本综述概述了生长因子在组织再生中的作用，并讨论了它们在再生的临床前动物模型和临床试验中的应用。此外，还综述了目前用于在人体中外源生长因子和肽类药物输送的生物材料基质和复杂的输送系统（如纳米颗粒）的现状。最后，讨论了再生医学中生长因子治疗的问题和可能的未来研究方向。
