Nucleic Acid Delivery for Endothelial Dysfunction in Cardiovascular Diseases

Atherosclerosis treatment with nanoagent: potential targets, stimulus signals and drug delivery mechanisms

Cardiovascular disease (CVDs) is the first killer of human health, and it caused up at least 31% of global deaths. Atherosclerosis is one of the main reasons caused CVDs. Oral drug therapy with statins and other lipid-regulating drugs is the conventional treatment strategies for atherosclerosis. However, conventional therapeutic strategies are constrained by low drug utilization and non-target organ injury problems. Micro-nano materials, including particles, liposomes, micelles and bubbles, have been developed as the revolutionized tools for CVDs detection and drug delivery, specifically atherosclerotic targeting treatment. Furthermore, the micro-nano materials also could be designed to intelligently and responsive targeting drug delivering, and then become a promising tool to achieve atherosclerosis precision treatment. This work reviewed the advances in atherosclerosis nanotherapy, including the materials carriers, target sites, responsive model and treatment results. These nanoagents precisely delivery the therapeutic agents to the target atherosclerosis sites, and intelligent and precise release of drugs, which could minimize the potential adverse effects and be more effective in atherosclerosis lesion.

Cholesterol Sequestration from Caveolae/Lipid Rafts Enhances Cationic Liposome-Mediated Nucleic Acid Delivery into Endothelial Cells

Delivering nucleic acids into the endothelium has great potential in treating vascular diseases. However, endothelial cells, which line the vasculature, are considered as sensitive in nature and hard to transfect. Low transfection efficacies in endothelial cells limit their potential therapeutic applications. Towards improving the transfection efficiency, we made an effort to understand the internalization of lipoplexes into the cells, which is the first and most critical step in nucleic acid transfections. In this study, we demonstrated that the transient modulation of caveolae/lipid rafts mediated endocytosis with the cholesterol-sequestrating agents, nystatin, filipin III, and siRNA against Cav-1, which significantly increased the transfection properties of cationic lipid-(2-hydroxy-N-methyl-N,N-bis(2-tetradecanamidoethyl)ethanaminium chloride), namely, amide liposomes in combination with 1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE) (AD Liposomes) in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (SK-Hep1). In particular, nystatin was found to be highly effective with 2–3-fold enhanced transfection efficacy when compared with amide liposomes in combination with Cholesterol (AC), by switching lipoplex internalization predominantly through clathrin-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis.

Novel approaches to combat preeclampsia: from new drugs to innovative delivery

Preeclampsia is a complex disease affecting 2-8% of pregnancies worldwide. It poses significant risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Despite the rising research interest to discover new therapeutic approaches to prevent and treat preeclampsia, options remain limited. Identifying the important pathological stages in the progression of this disease allows us to evaluate effective candidate therapeutics. Three important stages in the pathophysiology are: 1) placental hypoxia and oxidative stress, 2) excess release of anti-angiogenic and pro-inflammatory factors, and 3) widespread systemic endothelial dysfunction and vasoconstriction. Repurposing drugs already safe for use in pregnancy is an attractive option for discovery of novel therapeutics. There are many drugs currently being assessed to treat preeclampsia, including proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), metformin, statins, sulfasalazine, sofalcone, resveratrol, melatonin, and sildenafil citrate. These drugs show positive effects in preclinical studies, targeting placental and endothelial dysfunction. However, using novel therapeutics can raise safety concerns for the developing fetus. Therefore, innovative targeted delivery systems are being developed to safely administer these therapeutics directly to the placenta and/or endothelium. These include nanoparticle delivery systems, developed and used by the oncology field, now being adapted for obstetrics. This technology is currently being assessed in animal models and shows promise for treating preeclampsia. Combining effective therapeutics with targeted drug delivery could be the future of preeclampsia treatment.

Lipid-based gene delivery to macrophage mitochondria for atherosclerosis therapy

Atherosclerosis with associated cardiovascular diseases remains one of the main causes of disability and death worldwide, requiring development of new solutions for prevention and treatment. Macrophages are the key effectors of a series of events involved in atherogenesis, such as inflammation, plaque formation, and changes in lipid metabolism. Some of these events were shown to be associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and excessive mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage. Moreover, macrophages represent a promising target for novel therapeutic approaches that are based on the expression of various receptors and nanoparticle uptake. Lipid-based gene delivery to mitochondria is considered to be an interesting strategy for mtDNA damage correction. To date, several nanocarriers and their modifications have been developed that demonstrate high transfection efficiency and low cytotoxicity. This review discusses the possibilities of lipid-based gene delivery to macrophage mitochondria for atherosclerosis therapy.

Krüppel-like factors and vascular wall homeostasis

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are major causes of death worldwide. Identification of promising targets for prevention and treatment of CVDs is paramount in the cardiovascular field. Numerous transcription factors regulate cellular function through modulation of specific genes and thereby are involved in the physiological and pathophysiological processes of CVDs. Although Krüppel-like factors (KLFs) have a similar protein structure with a conserved zinc finger domain, they possess distinct tissue and cell distribution patterns as well as biological functions. In the vascular system, KLF activities are regulated at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Growing in vitro, in vivo, and genetic epidemiology studies suggest that specific KLFs play important roles in vascular wall biology, which further affect vascular diseases. KLFs regulate various functional aspects such as cell growth, differentiation, activation, and development through controlling a whole cluster of functionally related genes and modulating various signaling pathways in response to pathological conditions. Therapeutic targeting of selective KLF family members may be desirable to achieve distinct treatment effects in the context of various vascular diseases. Further elucidation of the association of KLFs with human CVDs, their underlying molecular mechanisms, and precise protein structure studies will be essential to define KLFs as promising targets for therapeutic interventions in CVDs.