Due to the accompaniment of vascular endothelial
inflammation during the occurrence and development of
cardiovascular diseases (CVD), treatment modalities against vascular endothelial
inflammation have been intensively investigated for CVD prevention and/or treatment.
Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) is a typical transmembrane inflammatory
protein specifically expressed by inflammatory vascular endothelial. By inhibiting
VCAM-1 expression through the miR-126 mediated pathway, vascular endothelial
inflammation can be efficiently relieved. Inspired by this, we developed a miR-126-loaded immunoliposome with
VCAM-1 monoclonal antibody (VCAMab) decorated at its surface. This immunoliposome can be directly targeted to
VCAM-1 at the inflammatory vascular endothelial membrane surface and achieve highly efficient treatment against
inflammation response. The cellular experiment results showed the immunoliposome had a higher uptake rate towards inflammatory human vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and can significantly downregulate the
VCAM-1 expression level of inflammatory HUVECs. In vivo investigation further demonstrated that this immunoliposome displayed a higher accumulation rate at vascular inflammatory dysfunction sites than its non-VCAMab-modified counterpart. These results suggest that this novel nanoplatform can effectively deliver miR-126 to vascular inflammatory endothelium, opening a new avenue for the safe and effective delivery of
miRNA for potential clinical application.