[Immune regulation of wound healing]

Wound healing is a complex cascade of biochemical and cellular events designed to achieve restoration of tissue integrity following injury. Immune cells are critical for the outcome of healing. Much has been learned about the individual events that are involved in this process. Knowledge is scant, however, about the spatial and temporal interweaving of these events and how one step sets the stage for subsequent observed phenomena. Imbalance of stimulating and inhibiting factors causes failure of healing. Immunosuppressive states interfere with a normal immune response and impair wound repair. Clinically, new therapeutic approaches to modulate impaired healing are based on a knowledge of immune regulation of wound healing.