Nanomedicine-based treatment: An emerging therapeutical strategy for pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) can cause breathing difficulty, a rapid decline of exercise capacity, heart failure, and eventually death of the patients. The latest epidemiological study demonstrates that PH has a much higher incidence than previously thought. PH is still a highly fatal disease due to the many disadvantages of the current drugs, such as short half-life, lack of targeting, and potent side effects. The PH pathological features offer great opportunities for nanomedicines for PH. Recently, emerging nanomedicines demonstrated great advantages in the therapeutic effect of PH by enhancing the accumulation of drugs in PH lesion, optimizing drug efficacy, and minimizing drug side effects. However, this promising field of cross-cutting research is far from being widely explored due to the huge professional barriers. To solve this problem, we provide a comprehensive review for the latest progresses of nanomedicines in the treatment of PH. Firstly, we systematical summarized the PH pathological features and the current clinical drug treatment of PH. The advantages of nanomedicines are also deeply discussed in the treatment of PH. Subsequently, we focused on the research progresses of nanomedicines in PH through three aspects: advanced nano-drug delivery system for traditional drugs and new target drugs, gene therapy-based nanomedicines, and other nanomedicines for the treatment of PH. Finally, we also discussed the prospects and challenges for the clinical application of nanomedicines in PH, and provided directions for the research and development of nanomedicines for PH treatment in the future.