Nanoimaging in cardiovascular diseases: Current state of the art

Sex Influences the Safety and Therapeutic Efficacy of Cardiac Nanomedicine Technologies

Nanomedicine technologies are being developed for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death worldwide. Before delving into the nuances of cardiac nanomedicine, it is essential to comprehend the fundamental sex-specific differences in cardiovascular health. Traditionally, CVDs have been more prevalent in males, but it is increasingly evident that females also face significant risks, albeit with distinct characteristics. Females tend to develop CVDs at a later age, exhibit different clinical symptoms, and often experience worse outcomes compared to males. These differences indicate the need for sex-specific approaches in cardiac nanomedicine. This Perspective discusses the importance of considering sex in the safety and therapeutic efficacy of nanomedicine approaches for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of CVD.

Nano revolution in cardiovascular health: Nanoparticles (NPs) as tiny titans for diagnosis and therapeutics

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are known as life-threatening illnessescaused by severe abnormalities in the cardiovascular system. They are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide.Nanotechnology integrated substantialinnovations in cardiovascular diagnostic and therapeutic at the nanoscale. This in-depth analysis explores cutting-edge methods for diagnosing CVDs, including nanotechnological interventions and crucial components for identifying risk factors, developing treatment plans, and monitoring patients' progress with chronic CVDs.Intensive research has gone into making nano-carriers that can image and treat patients. To improve the efficiency of treating CVDs, the presentreview sheds light on a decision-tree-based solution by investigating recent and innovative approaches in CVD diagnosis by utilizing nanoparticles (NPs). Treatment choices for chronic diseases like CVD, whose etiology might take decades to manifest, are very condition-specific and disease-stage-based. Moreover, thisreview alsobenchmarks the changing landscape of employing NPs for targeted and better drug administration while examining the limitations of various NPs in CVD diagnosis, including cost, space, time, and complexity. To better understand and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, the conversation moves on to the nano-cardiovascular possibilities for medical research.We also focus on recent developments in nanoparticle applications, the ways they might be helpful, and the medical fields where they may find future use. Finally, this reviewadds to the continuing conversation on improved diagnosis and treatment approaches for cardiovascular disorders by discussing the obstacles and highlighting the revolutionary effects of nanotechnology.

Multifunctional role of nanoparticles for the diagnosis and therapeutics of cardiovascular diseases

The increasing burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains responsible for morbidity and mortality worldwide; their effective diagnostic or treatment methods are of great interest to researchers. The use of NPs and nanocarriers in cardiology has drawn much interest. The present comprehensive review provides deep insights into the use of current and innovative approaches in CVD diagnostics to offer practical ways to utilize nanotechnological interventions and the critical elements in the CVD diagnosis, associated risk factors, and management strategies of patients with chronic CVDs. We proposed a decision tree-based solution by discussing the emerging applications of NPs for the higher number of rules to increase efficiency in treating CVDs. This review-based study explores the screening methods, tests, and toxicity to provide a unique way of creating a multi-parametric feature that includes cutting-edge techniques for identifying cardiovascular problems and their treatments. We discussed the benefits and drawbacks of various NPs in the context of cost, space, time and complexity that have been previously suggested in the literature for the diagnosis of CVDs risk factors. Also, we highlighted the advances in using NPs for targeted and improved drug delivery and discussed the evolution toward the nano-cardiovascular potential for medical science. Finally, we also examined the mixed-based diagnostic approaches crucial for treating cardiovascular disorders, broad applications and the potential future applications of nanotechnology in medical sciences.

Current Advances in Nanotheranostics for Molecular Imaging and Therapy of Cardiovascular Disorders

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) refer to a collection of conditions characterized by abnormalities in the cardiovascular system. They are a global problem and one of the leading causes of mortality and disability. Nanotheranostics implies to the combination of diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities inside a single nanoscale platform that has allowed for significant advancement in cardiovascular diagnosis and therapy. These advancements are being developed to improve imaging capabilities, introduce personalized therapies, and boost cardiovascular disease patient treatment outcomes. Significant progress has been achieved in the integration of imaging and therapeutic capabilities within nanocarriers. In the case of cardiovascular disease, nanoparticles provide targeted delivery of therapeutics, genetic material, photothermal, and imaging agents. Directing and monitoring the movement of these therapeutic nanoparticles may be done with pinpoint accuracy by using imaging modalities such as cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), photoacoustic/ultrasound, and fluorescence imaging. Recently, there has been an increasing demand of noninvasive for multimodal nanotheranostic platforms. In these platforms, various imaging technologies such as optical and magnetic resonance are integrated into a single nanoparticle. This platform helps in acquiring more accurate descriptions of cardiovascular diseases and provides clues for accurate diagnosis. Advances in surface functionalization methods have strengthened the potential application of nanotheranostics in cardiovascular diagnosis and therapy. In this Review, we have covered the potential impact of nanomedicine on CVDs. Additionally, we have discussed the recently developed various nanoparticles for CVDs imaging. Moreover, advancements in the CMR, CT, PET, ultrasound, and photoacoustic imaging for the CVDs have been discussed. We have limited our discussion to nanomaterials based clinical trials for CVDs and their patents.

Self-Reporting Theranostic: Nano Tool for Arterial Thrombosis

Arterial thrombosis (AT) originates through platelet-mediated thrombus formation in the blood vessel and can lead to heart attack, stroke, and peripheral vascular diseases. Restricting the thrombus growth and its simultaneous monitoring by visualisation is an unmet clinical need for a better AT prognosis. As a proof-of-concept, we have engineered a nanoparticle-based theranostic (combined therapy and monitoring) platform that has the potential to monitor and restrain the growth of a thrombus concurrently. The theranostic nanotool is fabricated using biocompatible super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as a core module tethered with the anti-platelet agent Abciximab (ReoPro) on its surface. Our in vitro feasibility results indicate that ReoPro-conjugated SPIONS (Tx@ReoPro) can effectively prevent thrombus growth by inhibiting fibrinogen receptors (GPIIbIIIa) on the platelet surface, and simultaneously, it can also be visible through non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for potential reporting of the real-time thrombus status.

Recent Developments in Nanomaterials-Based Drug Delivery and Upgrading Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, despite the recent developments in the management of CVDs, the early and long outcomes vary considerably in patients, especially with the current challenges facing the detection and treatment of CVDs. This disparity is due to a lack of advanced diagnostic tools and targeted therapies, requiring innovative and alternative methods. Nanotechnology offers the opportunity to use nanomaterials in improving health and controlling diseases. Notably, nanotechnologies have recognized potential applicability in managing chronic diseases in the past few years, especially cancer and CVDs. Of particular interest is the use of nanoparticles as drug carriers to increase the pharmaco-efficacy and safety of conventional therapies. Different strategies have been proposed to use nanoparticles as drug carriers in CVDs; however, controversies regarding the selection of nanomaterials and nanoformulation are slowing their clinical translation. Therefore, this review focuses on nanotechnology for drug delivery and the application of nanomedicine in CVDs.

The Application of Nanoparticles in Diagnosis and Treatment of Kidney Diseases

Nanomedicine is currently showing great promise for new methods of diagnosing and treating many diseases, particularly in kidney disease and transplantation. The unique properties of nanoparticles arise from the diversity of size effects, used to design targeted nanoparticles for specific cells or tissues, taking renal clearance and tubular secretion mechanisms into account. The design of surface particles on nanoparticles offers a wide range of possibilities, among which antibodies play an important role. Nanoparticles find applications in encapsulated drug delivery systems containing immunosuppressants and other drugs, in imaging, gene therapies and many other branches of medicine. They have the potential to revolutionize kidney transplantation by reducing and preventing ischemia-reperfusion injury, more efficiently delivering drugs to the graft site while avoiding systemic effects, accurately localizing and visualising the diseased site and enabling continuous monitoring of graft function. So far, there are known nanoparticles with no toxic effects on human tissue, although further studies are still needed to confirm their safety.

Nanomaterials as Novel Cardiovascular Theranostics

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of conditions associated with heart and blood vessels and are considered the leading cause of death globally. Coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction represents the CVDs. Since CVDs are associated with a series of pathophysiological conditions with an alarming mortality and morbidity rate, early diagnosis and appropriate therapeutic approaches are critical for saving patients’ lives. Conventionally, diagnostic tools are employed to detect disease conditions, whereas therapeutic drug candidates are administered to mitigate diseases. However, the advent of nanotechnological platforms has revolutionized the current understanding of pathophysiology and therapeutic measures. The concept of combinatorial therapy using both diagnosis and therapeutics through a single platform is known as theranostics. Nano-based theranostics are widely used in cancer detection and treatment, as evident from pre-clinical and clinical studies. Nanotheranostics have gained considerable attention for the efficient management of CVDs. The differential physicochemical properties of engineered nanoparticles have been exploited for early diagnosis and therapy of atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction and aneurysms. Herein, we provided the information on the evolution of nano-based theranostics to detect and treat CVDs such as atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and angiogenesis. The review also aims to provide novel avenues on how nanotherapeutics’ trending concept could transform our conventional diagnostic and therapeutic tools in the near future.

Physicochemical Properties and Hematocompatibility of Layered Double Hydroxide-Based Anticancer Drug Methotrexate Delivery System

A layered double hydroxide (LDH)-based anticancer delivery system was investigated in terms of crystalline phase, particle size, hydrodynamic radius, zeta potential, etc. through in vitro and in vivo study. Size controlled LDH with anticancer drug methotrexate (MTX) incorporation was successfully prepared through step-by-step hydrothermal reaction and ion-exchange reaction. The MTX-LDH was determined to have a neutral surface charge and strong agglomeration in the neutral aqueous condition due to the surface adsorbed MTX; however, the existence of proteins in the media dramatically reduced agglomeration, resulting in the hydrodynamic radius of MTX-LDH being similar to the primary particle size. The protein fluorescence quenching assay exhibited that MTX readily reduced the fluorescence of proteins, suggesting that the interaction between MTX and proteins was strong. On the other hand, MTX-LDH showed much less binding constant to proteins compared with MTX, implying that the protein interaction of MTX was effectively blocked by the LDH carrier. The in vivo hemolysis assay after intravenous injection of MTX-LDH showed neither significant reduction in red blood cell number nor membrane damage. Furthermore, the morphology of red blood cells in a mouse model did not change upon MTX-LDH injection. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the MTX-LDH particles were attached on the blood cells without serious denaturation of cellular morphology, taking advantage of the cell hitchhiking property.

Different Approaches to Develop Nanosensors for Diagnosis of Diseases

The success of clinical treatments is highly dependent on early detection and much research has been conducted to develop fast, efficient, and precise methods for this reason. Conventional methods relying on nonspecific and targeting probes are being outpaced by so-called nanosensors. Over the last two decades a variety of activatable sensors have been engineered, with a great diversity concerning the operating principle. Therefore, this review delineates the achievements made in the development of nanosensors designed for diagnosis of diseases.

Nanoparticle-Mediated Drug Delivery for the Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the foremost causes of high morbidity and mortality globally. Preventive, diagnostic, and treatment measures available for CVDs are not very useful, which demands promising alternative methods. Nanoscience and nanotechnology open a new window in the area of CVDs with an opportunity to achieve effective treatment, better prognosis, and less adverse effects on non-target tissues. The application of nanoparticles and nanocarriers in the area of cardiology has gathered much attention due to the properties such as passive and active targeting to the cardiac tissues, improved target specificity, and sensitivity. It has reported that more than 50% of CVDs can be treated effectively through the use of nanotechnology. The main goal of this review is to explore the recent advancements in nanoparticle-based cardiovascular drug carriers. This review also summarizes the difficulties associated with the conventional treatment modalities in comparison to the nanomedicine for CVDs.

Activatable magnetic resonance nanosensor as a potential imaging agent for detecting and discriminating thrombosis

The early detection and accurate characterization of life-threatening diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer are critical to the design of treatment. Knowing whether or not a thrombus in a blood vessel is new (fresh) or old (constituted) is very important for physicians to decide a treatment protocol. We have designed smart MRI nano-sensors that can detect, sense and report the stage or progression of cardiovascular diseases such as thrombosis. The nanosensors were functionalized with fibrin-binding peptide to specifically target thrombus and were also labelled with fluorescent dye to enable optical imaging. We have demonstrated that our nanosensors were able to switch between the T1 and T2 signal depending on thrombus age or the presence or absence of thrombin at the thrombus site. The developed nanosensors appeared to be non-toxic when tested with Chinese Hamster Ovarian cells within the tested concentrations. The working principle demonstrated in this study can be applied to many other diseases such as cancer.

Positron emission tomography and nanotechnology: A dynamic duo for cancer theranostics

Development of novel imaging probes for cancer diagnosis is critical for early disease detection and management. The past two decades have witnessed a surge in the development and evolution of radiolabeled nanoparticles as a new frontier in personalized cancer nanomedicine. The dynamic synergism of positron emission tomography (PET) and nanotechnology combines the sensitivity and quantitative nature of PET with the multifunctionality and tunability of nanomaterials, which can help overcome certain key challenges in the field. In this review, we discuss the recent advances in radionanomedicine, exemplifying the ability to tailor the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials to achieve optimal in vivo pharmacokinetics and targeted molecular imaging in living subjects. Innovations in development of facile and robust radiolabeling strategies and biomedical applications of such radionanoprobes in cancer theranostics are highlighted. Imminent issues in clinical translation of radiolabeled nanomaterials are also discussed, with emphasis on multidisciplinary efforts needed to quickly move these promising agents from bench to bedside.

Use of Nanoparticles As Contrast Agents for the Functional and Molecular Imaging of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a degenerative disease of the aorta common in adults older than 65 years of age. AAA is usually imaged using ultrasound or computed tomography. Molecular imaging technologies employing nanoparticles (NPs) have been proposed as novel ways to quantify pathological processes, such as inflammation, within AAAs as a means to identify the risk of rapid progression or rupture. This article reviews the current evidence supporting the role of NP-based imaging in the management of AAA. Currently, ultrasmall superparamagnetic NPs enhanced magnetic resonance imaging appears to hold the greatest potential for imaging macrophage-mediated inflammation in human AAA.