Broz Pavel, Marsch Stephan, Hunziker Patrick
Medical Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland.
Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2007 Aug;17(6):190-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tcm.2007.05.002.
Macrophages are key cellular elements of atherosclerotic plaque pathogenesis and are a significant risk factor for plaque rupture. Current diagnostic techniques for the detection of plaque macrophages are often limited by insufficient sensitivity and selectivity and have not reached broad clinical practice until now. Supramolecular nanometer-sized structures such as conjugates, nanoparticles, micelles, or vesicles built from novel polymers promise to be useful in cell-specific delivery and may be of particular value for the detection and treatment of vulnerable plaque macrophages. Key properties of polymer-based nanostructures are high stability, improved biocompatibility, long circulation half-lives, defined biodegradation, targeting moieties, and triggerable controlled release. This review gives an insight into several promising research projects with polymer-based nanostructures for macrophage detection or treatment that might enter cardiologic practice in the near future.
巨噬细胞是动脉粥样硬化斑块发病机制的关键细胞成分，也是斑块破裂的重要危险因素。目前用于检测斑块巨噬细胞的诊断技术常常受到灵敏度和选择性不足的限制，至今尚未广泛应用于临床实践。由新型聚合物构建的超分子纳米结构，如缀合物、纳米颗粒、胶束或囊泡，有望用于细胞特异性递送，对于易损斑块巨噬细胞的检测和治疗可能具有特殊价值。基于聚合物的纳米结构的关键特性包括高稳定性、改善的生物相容性、较长的循环半衰期、明确的生物降解性、靶向部分以及可触发的控释。本文综述了几个有前景的基于聚合物纳米结构用于巨噬细胞检测或治疗的研究项目，这些项目可能在不久的将来进入心脏病学实践。
