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Published on: September 27, 2013
Tissue Engineering and Targeted Drug Delivery in Cardiovascular Disease: The Role of Polymer Nanocarrier for Statin
Nunzio Montelione1, Francesco Loreni2, Antonio Nenna2
1Unit of Vascular Surgery, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, 00128 Rome, Italy.
Insights
Drug delivery systems enhance statin effectiveness for cardiovascular disease by improving bioavailability and targeting. Polymeric nanoparticles, like PLGA, show promise in reducing side effects and improving treatment outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading global cause of mortality, necessitating effective prevention and treatment strategies.
- Statins are effective for CAD but face limitations in administration, dosing, and target specificity, leading to side effects.
- Drug delivery systems (DDSs) offer a promising approach to overcome statin limitations by enhancing bioavailability and target specificity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current evidence on polymers and nanoparticles for statin delivery in cardiovascular disease.
- To explore how DDSs enhance statin efficacy and reduce adverse effects.
- To identify future research directions for improved statin-based cardiovascular therapies.
Main Methods:
- Review of preclinical studies on polymer and nanoparticle-based statin delivery systems.
- Analysis of how DDS conjugation impacts statin bioavailability, target specificity, and therapeutic effects.
- Evaluation of specific DDS materials, such as poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA).
Main Results:
- Conjugation of statins with DDSs increases bioavailability, circumvents hepatic-renal filtration, and enhances target specificity.
- Enhanced statin delivery reduces endothelial dysfunction, intimal hyperplasia, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and neointimal growth.
- DDS-enhanced statins promote cardiac regeneration, positive extracellular matrix remodeling, and reendothelialization, stimulating endogenous cardiac stem cells.
Conclusions:
- Polymeric nanoparticles, particularly PLGA, represent a promising strategy for improving statin delivery in cardiovascular disease.
- Enhanced statin delivery via DDSs offers a pathway to improve treatment efficacy and minimize side effects.
- Further research into DDS-based statin therapies is warranted to optimize cardiovascular disease management.
Abstract:
Atherosclerosis-related coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. This requires effective primary and secondary prevention in reducing the complications related to CAD; the regression or stabilization of the pathology remains the mainstay of treatment. Statins have proved to be the most effective treatment in reducing adverse effects, but there are limitations related to the administration and achievement of effective doses as well as side effects due to the lack of target-related molecular specificity. The implemented technological steps are polymers and nanoparticles for the administration of statins, as it has been seen how the conjugation of drug delivery systems (DDSs) with statins increases bioavailability by circumventing the hepatic-renal filter and increases the related target specificity, enhancing their action and decreasing side effects. Reduction of endothelial dysfunction, reduced intimal hyperplasia, reduced ischemia-reperfusion injury, cardiac regeneration, positive remodeling in the extracellular matrix, reduced neointimal growth, and increased reendothelialization are all drug-related effects of statins enhanced by binding with DDSs. Recent preclinical studies demonstrate how the effect of statins stimulates the differentiation of endogenous cardiac stem cells. Poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) seems to be the most promising DDS as it succeeds more than the others in enhancing the effect of the bound drug. This review intends to summarize the current evidence on polymers and nanoparticles for statin delivery in the field of cardiovascular disease, trying to shed light on this topic and identify new avenues for future studies.
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