NANOTECHNOLOGY USED AS SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE FOR CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Nanomedicine and nano delivery systems are a relatively new but rapidly developing science where materials in the nanoscale range are employed to serve as means of diagnostic tools or to deliver therapeutic agents to specific targeted sites in a controlled manner. Nanotechnology offers multiple benefits in treating chronic human diseases by site-specific and target-oriented delivery of precise medicines. Recently, there are a number of outstanding applications of the nanomedicine (chemotherapeutic agents, biological agents, immunotherapeutic agents etc.) in the treatment of various diseases. Nanotechnology could provide a new complementary approach to treat coronary artery disease (CAD) which is now one of the biggest killers in the Western world. It is accounting for more than 17.3 million death per year in 2017, number that is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030. It can provide a variety of delivery systems for cargoes such as drugs and genes that can address many problems within the arteries. In order to improve the performance of current stents, nanotechnology provides different nanomaterial coatings, in addition to controlled-release nanocarriers, to prevent in-stent restenosis. It can increase the efficiency of drugs, improve local and systematic delivery to atherosclerotic plaques and reduce the inflammatory or angiogenic response after intravascular intervention. Nanocarriers have potential for delivery of imaging and diagnostic agents to precisely targeted destinations. This needs to be carried out with strong collaboration between researchers, engineers, biomedical engineers, nanotechnologists and clinicians. As the technology and evidence develops, we will soon enter an era where existing established treatment modalities could be questioned and eventually replaced by nanotherapeutics.