Panoply™ Human FGF2 Over-expressing Stable Cell Line

Diabetic wounds severely compromise patients' physical and mental health, creating an urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies and materials. Macrophages play a pivotal role in tissue repair mechanisms. Macrophage-conditioned medium contains various proteins and cytokines associated with wound healing, demonstrating the potential to promote the healing of diabetic wounds; furthermore, engineering macrophages offers a promising approach to further enhance their tissue repair capabilities. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) is a key growth factor in the wound healing process. In this study, researchers successfully engineered a stable macrophage cell line that overexpresses FGF2 (engineered macrophages). Proteomic analysis indicated that conditioned medium derived from these FGF2-overexpressing macrophages could promote wound healing, likely by enhancing vascularization. Additionally, in vitro experiments confirmed that the conditioned medium promoted endothelial cell migration. To facilitate drug delivery and application to the wound site, the researchers fabricated soluble hyaluronic acid microneedles loaded with this conditioned medium. These soluble microneedles exhibited excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility, effectively releasing their cargo in vivo. In a full-thickness skin defect model using diabetic mice, the microneedles significantly accelerated wound healing and markedly promoted angiogenesis and collagen deposition.

Scratch assay results showed that EA.hy926 cells treated with conditioned medium from FGF2-overexpressing macrophages (FGF2 OE group) and conditioned medium from macrophages (RAW 264.7 CM group) exhibited significantly enhanced migratory ability at 24 hours (Figure 1A). Notably, the FGF2 OE group demonstrated the strongest capacity to promote cell migration (Figure 1B). The wound treatment process is illustrated in Figure 1D and F: a full-thickness skin wound model was established in diabetic mice, followed by treatment with Control, MN, CM + MN, or FGF2 OE CM + MN. Macroscopic observation revealed that the FGF2 OE CM + MN group exhibited the fastest wound healing rate; by day 12, the wounds had almost completely closed, and new skin had formed. Although the MN and CM + MN groups also showed faster wound healing than the Control group, their performance was inferior to that of the FGF2 OE CM + MN group (Figure 1E). These results indicate that the combination of conditioned medium from FGF2-overexpressing macrophages and microneedles (FGF2 OE CM + MN) significantly promotes diabetic wound healing. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in body weight among the groups (Figure 1C).

Figure 1. Macrophages conditioned medium promoted wound healing in vitro and in vivo. (Wang H Y, et al., 2025)