Nanomedicine approaches in vascular disease: a review

Vascular diseases are the major causes of morbidity and mortality globally. Current vascular therapeutic strategies involving direct systemic administration of drugs suffer from sub-optimal performance due to rapid drug clearance, lack of site-specific action and low therapeutic index, often resulting in severe systemic side effects like coagulopathy and hemorrhage. Targeted nanomedicine approaches involving vascular site-selective drug delivery and controlled release using bioengineered nanoconstructs, utilizing disease-specific molecular and cellular mechanisms, can revolutionize vascular therapeutics. In addition, such approaches can refine diagnostic imaging of vascular diseases. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the promising vascular nanomedicine approaches.141