Nanomaterial-Mediated Theranostics for Vascular Diseases

Abstract

Nanotechnology could offer a new complementary strategy for the treatment of vascular diseases including coronary, carotid, or peripheral arterial disease due to narrowing or blockage of the artery caused by atherosclerosis. These arterial diseases manifest correspondingly as angina and myocardial infarction, stroke, and intermittent claudication of leg muscles during exercise. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis involves biological events at the cellular and molecular level, thus targeting these using nanomaterials precisely and effectively could result in a better outcome. Nanotechnology can mitigate the pathological events by enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of the therapeutic agent by delivering it at the point of a lesion in a controlled and efficacious manner. Further, combining therapeutics with imaging will enhance the theranostic ability in atherosclerosis. Additionally, nanoparticles can provide a range of delivery systems for genes, proteins, cells, and drugs, which individually or in combination can address various problems within the arteries. Imaging studies combined with nanoparticles helps in evaluating the disease progression as well as the response to the treatment because imaging and diagnostic agents can be delivered precisely to the targeted destinations via nanocarriers. This review focuses on the use of nanotechnology in theranostics of coronary artery and peripheral arterial disease.

Nanomaterials for small diameter vascular grafts: overview and outlook

“…1 and Table 1 ). 8 Grossly classified by the nano-scale dimensions that the materials possess, they include nanoparticles (NPs), nanofibers, and nanofilms. NPs, also called zero dimensional (0D) NMs, have three dimensions (anterior-posterior, left-right, up-down directions) in a nano scale; nanofibers, also called one dimensional (1D) NMs, have two dimensions in a nano scale but the third in a micro/macro scale, which typically form interconnected mats or matrices; nanofilms, also called two dimensional (2D) NMs, have only one dimension in a nano scale yet the other two in micro/macro.…”

“… 7 With the advancement of nanotechnology, NMs have entered the horizons of SDVG researchers and have exhibited enormous potential to improve SDVG performance. 8 NMs are a set of materials with a scale ranging from one to several hundred nanometers in at least one dimension. They represent a cutting-edge direction of materials whose attractive properties include a high surface-to-volume ratio, high adsorption, and high reactive/catalytic activity, basically stemming from their ultra-small scale.…”

“… 9 NMs with various forms in shape, such as particles, fibers, and films, can be distinct in derivations from the inorganically synthetic to the organically synthetic and to the biological, such as AuNPs, PLGA NPs, and EVs. Various NMs have enhanced the performance of SDVGs by their beneficial functions, 8 which include improving EC adhesion, regulating inflammation, mimicking vascular ECM, controllably releasing vasoactive drugs, and refining mechanical properties. Although the application of NMs in SDVGs is generally underexplored, they have shown great promise in boosting the development of SDVGs.…”

Therapeutic Strategies and Chemoprevention of Atherosclerosis: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go?

“…Advanced imaging techniques (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), photoacoustic imaging, positron emission tomography (PET), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and laser device imaging (LDI)) and various nanocarriers (inorganic particles (metal oxides, gold, silver and silica), lipid-based nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers or carbon nanotubes) have been studied in theranostic therapy of atherosclerosis and vascular diseases [113][114][115]. Macrophages are the most-used target for theranostics, and nanomaterials are conjugated with binding ligands such as peptides or antibodies for this purpose [115].…”

A Novel Method of Magnetic Nanoparticles Functionalized with Anti-Folate Receptor Antibody and Methotrexate for Antibody Mediated Targeted Drug Delivery

“…Moreover, NPs can be engineered with therapeutic agents and targeting ligands in targeted drug delivery with better tumor specificity than traditional approaches [ 11 ]. Nano-sized material applications provide more accurate methods of treatment, as they affect interactions at the cellular and molecular levels [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”