Jianlan Liu, Hongjun Zhai, Tianyi Liu, Fazhi Qi, Jonathon Pleat and Ningwen Zhu
Wound healing is an intricate process whereby the skin, or similar tissues, repairs itself after injury. Impaired wound healing with loss of temporospatial orchestration of processes remains challenging and can be highly debilitating to patients. Recently, the novel strategy of administering mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from bone marrow, adipose tissues and other sources, has achieved high therapeutic efficiency in healing wounds. Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) are pluripotent stem cells with the ability to differentiate into different lineages and to secrete paracrine factors to initiate tissue regeneration. However, the exact molecular mechanism by which ASCs exert their function is not well characterized. MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) are important regulators of diverse cell functions and the cytokine network is necessary for endothelial cell migration, capillary formation, matrix metalloproteinase production, collagen synthesis and degradation. This review will focus on the significant role of MicroRNA within ASCs and how these are interlinked to the pathogenesis of wound healing.