Nanotherapeutic Shots through the Heart of Plaque

The past several decades have brought significant advances in the application of clinical and preclinical nanoparticulate drugs in the field of cancer, but nanodrug development in cardiovascular disease has lagged in comparison. Improved understanding of the spatiotemporal kinetics of nanoparticle delivery to atherosclerotic plaques is required to optimize preclinical nanodrug delivery and to drive their clinical translation. Mechanistic studies using super-resolution and correlative light microscopy/electron microscopy permit a broad, ultra-high-resolution picture of how endothelial barrier integrity impacts the enhanced permeation and retention (EPR) effect for nanoparticles as a function of both atherosclerosis progression and metabolic therapy. Studies by Beldman et al. in the December issue of ACS Nano suggest atherosclerotic plaque progression supports endothelial junction stabilization, which can reduce nanoparticle entry into plaques, and metabolic therapy may induce similar effects. Herein, we examine the potential for advanced dynamic intravital microscopy-based mechanistic studies of nanoparticle entry into atherosclerotic plaques to shed light on the advantages of free extravasation versus immune-mediated nanoparticle uptake for effective clinical translation. We further explore the potential combination of metabolic therapy with another emerging cardiovascular disease treatment paradigm—efferocytosis stimulation—to enhance atherosclerotic plaque regression.