The role of the immune system in the regulation of wound repair

Wound healing is a highly regulated biochemical and cellular cascade. Recent advances indicate that some of the controlling mechanisms of this cascade occur via the cellular arm of the immune system. Macrophages, one of the key elements in wound healing, provide regulation via the secretion of multiple cytokines which influence all cells participating in wound healing. The lymphocytes, which also migrate into wounds and have been considered before to be unimportant, have been shown more recently to play a major regulatory role in the successful completion of wound repair. This review examines the role of the immune system in wound healing, and how immune cells regulate the function of other cells in the wound environment.