Nanomedicine to Help Cure Atherosclerosis

Nanomedicine, a division of nanotechnology, is about to cure atherosclerosis in cooperation with an old-fashioned drug.

The research has been done at the Washington University in St. Louis. The researchers have discovered that drug-laced nanoparticles (fumagillin) combined with a statin could stop the growth of blood vessels that are food for arterial plaques. The research has shown that this treatment also prevents the vessels from growing again from the start, which actually stabilizes the plaque.

Gregory Lanza, MD, PhD, one of the researchers said: “We saw that statins sustain the acute inhibition of blood vessel growth produced by the fumagillin nanoparticles within the plaque.”

Patients with atherosclerosis take statins on a regular basis since they lower the level of cholesterol. But statin itself does not “cure” the disease.

The research has been published in “Antiangiogenic synergism of integrin-targeted fumagillin nanoparticles and atorvastatin in atherosclerosis” by Winter PM, Caruthers SD, Williams TA, Wickline SA, Lanza GM.