No abstract

Ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot obstructs or narrows the arteries that supply blood to the brain. Currently, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a thrombolytic agent, is the only United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved pharmacologic treatment for ischemic stroke. Despite its effective usage, the major limitation of tPA that stems from its short half-life in plasma (≈5 min) is the potential for increased risk of hemorrhagic complications. To circumvent these limitations, herein, the first proof-of-principle demonstration of a theranostic nanoconstruct system derived from erythrocytes doped with the FDA-approved near-infrared (NIR) imaging agent, indocyanine green, and surface-functionalized with tPA is reported. Using a clot model, the dual functionality of these nanoconstructs in NIR fluorescence imaging and clot lysis is demonstrated. These biomimetic theranostic nanoconstructs may ultimately be effective in imaging and treatment of blood clots involved in ischemic stroke.

Front Cover: Engineering optical nano‐vesicles derived from red blood cells with theranostic functionalities to fluorescently image and lyse blood clots. This is reported by Raviraj Vankayala, Samantha R. Corber, Jenny T. Mac, Masaru P. Rao, Mohammad Shafie, and Bahman Anvari, article number https://doi.org/10.1002/mabi.201700379.