Fig. 14: LbL-based stent coatings for targeted gene therapy.

a The preparation of gene eluting stents, phosphorylcholine base coating loading with miRNA126, immobilizing miRNA 145/ssPEI nanoparticles on the hyaluronic acid-coated stent, and constructing the (protamine sulfate/shRNA-pDNA) film^152,155,165 b Increasing VEGF and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) to achieve the intelligent self-repair of vascular ECs at the transcriptional level by miRNA126. c Reducing the downstream protein c-Myc by the effective knock-down of the miRNA 145, which retarded the undesired growth of VSMCs near the stents. d Measurement of neointima by hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) staining. The white rabbit iliac arteries were harvested 4 weeks after stent implantation, The panel shows representative arteries from the BMS hyaluronic acid-coated stent, and miRNA 145/ssPEI nanoparticles /hyaluronic acid-immobilized stent groups¹⁵². Copyright © 2016 The Korean Society of Cardiology. e PDNA vector with encoding shRNA to target and block TGF-β1 expression. f Histological analysis results at 28 days. (i), (ii): Typical optical photographs of the H&E-stained cross section slices of the rabbit femoral arteries with shRNA-pDNA stents. The scale bar of (i) represents 1 mm. The scale bar of (ii) represents 200 mm. (iii), (iv), (v): (iii)Histological analysis of neointimal thickness, (iv) I/M ratio, (v) the percentage of neointimal stenosis (*P < 0.05)¹⁶⁶. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier.