REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. T Cell Biology
This article is part of the Research TopicT Regulatory Cells: Mechanisms and Therapeutical AdvancesView all 11 articles
Immunomodulatory Roles of Regulatory T Cells in Cutaneous Wound Healing: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities
Provisionally accepted
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract Cutaneous wound healing is a complex, tightly regulated biological process encompassing four overlapping phases: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. While acute wounds typically progress through these stages in a coordinated manner, various pathological conditions, including diabetes mellitus and microbial infections, can impair this process, resulting in chronic, non-healing wounds. A sustained inflammatory phase characterizes chronic wounds and is commonly associated with systemic immune dysregulation. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have emerged as critical modulators of tissue homeostasis and regeneration. Tregs exert their effects through the expression of immunoregulatory molecules and the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines, facilitating the resolution of inflammation, supporting angiogenesis, and promoting tissue repair. In the context of cutaneous wounds, skin-resident Tregs interact with both immune and non-immune cells, contributing to the restoration of barrier integrity. This review highlights the multifaceted roles of Tregs in cutaneous wound healing, with a particular emphasis on their contributions to the inflammatory and proliferative phases, including vascularization and regulation of fibroblasts. Furthermore, emerging therapeutic strategies targeting Tregs to modulate their function in chronic wound settings are discussed. These insights underscore the potential of Tregs as novel immunotherapeutic targets for enhancing wound repair and regeneration in chronic and diabetic wound pathologies.
Keywords: Acute wound, chronic wound, Cutaneous wound healing, Inflammation, regulatory T cells, tissue repair
Received: 01 Nov 2025; Accepted: 27 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Emeka, Riaz, Li, Zhao and Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fan Pan
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.