Therapeutic angiogenesis based on injectable hydrogel for protein delivery in ischemic heart disease

Junke Wang; Yancheng Song; Wenjie Xie; Jiang Zhao; Ying Wang; Wenzhou Yu

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106577

Therapeutic angiogenesis based on injectable hydrogel for protein delivery in ischemic heart disease

iScience. 2023 Apr 10;26(5):106577. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106577. eCollection 2023 May 19.

Authors

Junke Wang^{1

2}, Yancheng Song³, Wenjie Xie⁴, Jiang Zhao⁵, Ying Wang⁶, Wenzhou Yu⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 26000, China.
² Qingdao Medical College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266071, China.
³ Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 26000, China.
⁴ Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Shandong, Qingdao, Shandong 26000, China.
⁵ Department of Urology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, China.
⁶ School of Health and Life Sciences, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong 26000, China.
⁷ Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 26003, China.

Abstract

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains the leading cause of death and disability worldwide and leads to myocardial necrosis and negative myocardial remodeling, ultimately leading to heart failure. Current treatments include drug therapy, interventional therapy, and surgery. However, some patients with severe diffuse coronary artery disease, complex coronary artery anatomy, and other reasons are unsuitable for these treatments. Therapeutic angiogenesis stimulates the growth of the original blood vessels by using exogenous growth factors to generate more new blood vessels, which provides a new treatment for IHD. However, direct injection of these growth factors can cause a short half-life and serious side effects owing to systemic spread. Therefore, to overcome this problem, hydrogels have been developed for temporally and spatially controlled delivery of single or multiple growth factors to mimic the process of angiogenesis in vivo. This paper reviews the mechanism of angiogenesis, some important bioactive molecules, and natural and synthetic hydrogels currently being applied for bioactive molecule delivery to treat IHD. Furthermore, the current challenges of therapeutic angiogenesis in IHD and its potential solutions are discussed to facilitate real translation into clinical applications in the future.

Keywords: Drug delivery system; Pharmacology.

Publication types

Review