Multiple noncovalent interactions mediated one-pot therapeutic assemblies for the effective treatment of atherosclerosis

Abstract

Atherosclerosis may cause life-threatening coronary artery disease, carotid artery disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease, while its effective therapy remains challenging thus far. With the aim of facilely constructing efficacious and translational oral delivery systems for an anti-atherosclerotic drug of rapamycin (RAP), an all-in-one approach was created. This strategy involves a carboxyl-bearing compound (serves as a guest molecule) mediated self-assembly of a structurally simple host polymer of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm). The formation of microspheres and highly efficient packaging of RAP could be simultaneously achieved by this host–guest self-assembly, affording cost-effective therapeutic assemblies with particularly robust drug loading capacity, desirable drug dissolution, relative manufacturing simplicity, good lyophilization-reconstitution character, and facile scalability. Besides these pharmaceutical characteristics superior over control microspheres based on poly(lactide-co-glycolide) or a enteric coating material, therapeutic RAP microspheres fabricated by this assembly approach had high oral bioavailability. More importantly, assembled RAP microspheres displayed significant therapeutic advantages upon treatment of atherosclerosis in an apolipoprotein E-deficient mouse model. In addition, a long-term treatment with either RAP-containing assemblies or the carrier material PNIPAm revealed a good safety profile in mice post oral delivery. Accordingly, RAP microspheres developed herein are promising and translational therapeutics for atherosclerotic diseases. This study also provides new insights into the design of effective carrier materials for various lipophilic therapeutics.