“…Among others, markers downstream of the Wnt signaling pathway (e. g. elevated expression of nuclear β -catenin and c-myc [ 44 ] ), epidermal stem cell markers (e. g. decreased expression of leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domain-containing protein 1 [LRIG 1] and keratin 15 [K15]), members of the TGF β superfamily (e. g. decreased expression of the bone morphogenetic protein receptor [BMPR] and TGF β I and II ligands), immunomodulatory proteins (e. g. decreased expression GATA-binding protein 3 (GATA3) and of inhibitors of DNA-binding proteins 2 and 4 (ID2 and ID4) [ 44,59 ] ), as well as antimicrobial peptides (e. g. decreased expression of cathelicidin [ 60 ] ) have been shown to be clinically associated with impaired healing in patients with chronic wounds. On the other hand, wound fl uid markers have also been identifi ed, including increased expression of metalloproteinases (e. g. MMP-1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13), decreased expression of their inhibitors (e. g. TIMP-1) [61][62][63] , increased IL-1 and IL-6 [ 64 ] levels, as well as decreased levels of albumin and total protein [ 65 ] . Systemic biomarkers associated with a high risk of developing chronic wounds have also been reported, with chronic ulcer patients showing high serum levels of procalcitonin [ 66 ] as well as MMP3 and 2 [ 67 ] , and a reduced number of CD34+/CD45-dim circulating cells [ 68 ] and micro RNAs such as miRNA-200b and miRNA-191 [ 69 ] .…”