ReviewInternational journal of molecular sciences2026
A Comprehensive Review of Antimicrobial Peptides and Smart Biomaterials in Chronic Wound Therapy: Overcoming Biofilms, Resistance, and Translational Barriers.
Review in International journal of molecular sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chronic wounds represent a growing global healthcare burden driven by persistent inflammation, polymicrobial biofilm formation, impaired tissue regeneration, and increased antimicrobial resistance. This review examines the mechanistic interplay between chronic wound pathophysiology, biofilm persistence, and antimicrobial peptide (AMP)-based therapeutics, with particular emphasis on translational barriers and advanced biomaterial-enabled delivery strategies. Current evidence demonstrates that AMPs exert multifactorial activities extending beyond direct antimicrobial effects, including membrane disruption, quorum-sensing inhibition, extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) destabilization, immune modulation, angiogenic stimulation, and promotion of re-epithelialization. However, their clinical translation remains limited due to proteolytic degradation, poor stability, cytotoxicity, rapid clearance, and inadequate retention within the hostile chronic wound microenvironment. To address these limitations, emerging biomaterial platforms-including hydrogels, electrospun nanofibers, nanoparticles, self-assembling peptide systems, and stimuli-responsive smart dressings-have been developed to improve AMP stability, controlled release, biofilm penetration, and regenerative efficacy. This review further highlights current preclinical and clinical challenges, including the lack of standardized polymicrobial biofilm models and translationally relevant wound systems, while discussing future perspectives such as artificial intelligence-assisted peptide design and precision wound therapeutics. We argue that peptide discovery is no longer the principal bottleneck: the rate-limiting steps are now peptide stabilization, biofilm-targeted delivery, and dosing, and no current platform yet couples validated eradication of mature polymicrobial biofilms with validated tissue regeneration in a clinically representative model. Collectively, AMP-enabled smart biomaterials may support the transition from passive wound management toward responsive, biofilm-targeted regenerative therapy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.