Macrophages are mounted to treat ischemic diseases

What is it about?

Ischemic diseases lead to considerable morbidity and mortality, yet conventional clinical treatment strategies for therapeutic angiogenesis fall short of being impactful. Despite the potential of biomaterials to deliver pro-angiogenic molecules at the infarct site to induce angiogenesis, their efficacy has been impeded by aberrant vascular activation and off-target circulation. So, we developed a semisynthetic low-molecular sulfated chitosan oligosaccharide that efficiently induced therapeutic arteriogenesis with a spontaneous generation of collateral circulation and blood reperfusion in rodent models of hind limb ischemia and myocardial infarction.

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Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash

Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Rapid establishment of collateral arterial circulation is crucial for the treatment of ischemic diseases. However, conventional pro-angiogenic drugs mostly suffer from abnormal angiogenesis and potential cancer risk, and currently, no off-the-shelf biomaterials can efficiently induce angiogenesis. We show that sulfated oligosaccharides can regulate the polarization of host Mφs and differentiate into perivascular cells, thereby effectively inducing in situ arterial regeneration. We expect that these findings may pave the way for the development of biomaterial-based therapeutic arteriogenesis to treat ischemic diseases.