Nanoparticles Target Arterial Inflammation

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is a cholesterol molecule that travels within artery walls. A team from Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, USA) has leveraged HDL’s natural travel routes, loading it with a cholesterol-lowering medication (simvastatin) and observing it shuttled into arterial walls.  These nanoparticles, named S-HDL (simvastatin-loaded nanoparticles), appear to work by targeting inflamed immune cells (macrophages) within high-risk arterial plaques. Left untargeted, these macrophages otherwise become laden with cholesterol and start proliferating in plaques, thereby increasing inflammation. This lipid-driven inflammatory process drives atherosclerotic plaque buildup and rupture leading to a heart attack or stroke. Observing that:  “this regimen rapidly reduced and continuously suppressed plaque inflammation,” the study authors submit that: “ Our results demonstrate that pharmacologically inhibiting local macrophage proliferation can effectively treat inflammation in atherosclerosis.”