{
  "abstract": "Diabetic wounds are chronic, difficult-to-heal injuries of the skin and soft tissues in people with diabetes. Their impaired healing involves metabolic disturbances, oxidative stress, vascular and neural injury, immune dysregulation, and dysfunction of reparative cells. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) links metabolic stress, immune responses, and tissue repair. Its persistent pathological activation can maintain wound inflammation and impede the transition to the reparative phase, representing a key mechanism underlying impaired healing in diabetic wounds. Chinese herbal medicine-derived therapeutics can modulate upstream NF-κB stimuli, the core cascade, and downstream inflammatory output, but their local application is limited by poor dispersibility or chemical stability, washout by wound exudate, and tissue barriers. Engineered delivery can improve the dispersibility or formulation stability of these therapeutics and modulate their in vitro release. A small number of studies have further evaluated local delivery processes such as cellular uptake, but direct assessment of local exposure within the wound remains limited. This review examines how engineered delivery addresses delivery barriers and alters the local application of Chinese herbal medicine-derived therapeutics in diabetic wounds, while using the depth of NF-κB-related evidence as an important dimension for evaluating the reported biological effects. Existing studies show that the reparative effects of engineered formulations are often accompanied by attenuation of upstream NF-κB stimuli or reduced downstream inflammatory output, whereas only a few studies have further detected reduced phosphorylation of IκBα or p65. However, a complete causal evidence chain linking material properties, local exposure, the core IκB kinase (IKK)–IκBα–p65 cascade, and wound-healing outcomes has not yet been established. Future studies should align local delivery processes with the temporal and cellular distribution of aberrant NF-κB activation and strengthen the evaluation of therapeutic attribution, critical quality attributes, and biocompatibility. The goal of engineered delivery of Chinese herbal medicine-derived therapeutics is not to suppress NF-κB continuously, but to limit its persistent pathological activation and promote the transition of wounds from the inflammatory phase to the tissue repair phase.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China",
    "Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China",
    "Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "review article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Boxun Chen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Qing Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jialun Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiaoshan Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ning Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Meiling Zou"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zhichao Huang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jiayue Feng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Guangheng Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Shang Ju"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dm52cwqzcqq9f.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fbioe.2026.1977317",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13736087/",
  "id": "dm52cwqzcqq9f",
  "issns": [
    "2296-4185"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2026.1977317",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Review"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2746|Wound Healing and Treatments"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223185161",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2026.1977317/pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13736087",
  "pmid": "42991065",
  "published": "2026-10-22",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dm52cwqzcqq9f.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-09T12:21:37Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13736087",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2026.1977317"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2746|Wound Healing and Treatments",
      "subfield": "surgery"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Engineered delivery of Chinese herbal medicine-derived therapeutics for diabetic wound healing: a focus on NF-κB cascade modulation",
  "title_text": "Engineered delivery of Chinese herbal medicine-derived therapeutics for diabetic wound healing: a focus on NF-κB cascade modulation",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T12:21:37Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dm52cwqzcqq9f",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology",
  "versions": []
}