Cyclodextrin-Derived Intrinsically Bioactive Nanoparticles for Treatment of Acute and Chronic Inflammatory Diseases

Inflammation is a common cause of many acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. A major limitation of existing anti-inflammatory therapeutics is that they cannot simultaneously regulate pro-inflammatory cytokine production, oxidative stress, and recruitment of neutrophils and macrophages. To overcome this limitation, nanoparticles (NPs) with multiple pharmacological activities are synthesized, using a chemically modified cyclic oligosaccharide. The manufacture of this type of bioactive, saccharide material-based NPs (defined as LCD NP) is straightforward, cost-effective, and scalable. Functionally, LCD NP effectively inhibits inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and cell migration for both neutrophils and macrophages, two major players of inflammation. Therapeutically, LCD NP shows desirable efficacies for the treatment of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases in mouse models of peritonitis, acute lung injury, and atherosclerosis. Mechanistically, the therapeutic benefits of LCD NP are achieved by inhibiting neutrophil-mediated inflammatory macrophage recruitment and by preventing subsequent pro-inflammatory events. In addition, LCD NP shows good safety profile in a mouse model. Thus, LCD NP can serve as an effective anti-inflammatory nanotherapy for the treatment of inflammatory diseases mainly associated with neutrophil and macrophage infiltration.