Potential Roles of Fibronectin in Cutaneous Wound Repair

• Fibronectin has many potential roles in wound repair, including chemotactic factor activity for monocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells; opsonin activity and opsonin promoter activity for microorganism and tissue debris; substratum for cell migration and localization; and a scaffold for building extracellular matrix. Although fibronectin has been reported to have intrinsic growth-promoting ability, coisolation of authentic growth factors with fibronectin raises doubts about this observation. Whether the addition of exogenous fibronectin to wounds can augment healing is a question for future studies. (Arch Dermatol1988;124:201-206)