A major challenge to treat vascular endothelial injury is the restoration of endothelium integrity in which endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) plays a central role. Transplantation of EPCs as a promising therapeutic means is subject to two interrelated processes, homing and differentiation of EPCs in vivo, and thus a lack of either one may greatly affect the outcome of EPC‐based therapy. Herein, a polymeric nanocarrier is applied for the codelivery of CXCR4 and VEGFa genes to simultaneously promote the migration and differentiation of EPCs. Moreover, MRI T₂ contrast agent SPION and NIR dye Cy7.5 are also loaded into the nanocarrier in order to track EPCs in vivo. Based on the synergistic effect of the two codelivered genes, an improved reendothelialization of EPCs is achieved in a rat carotid denuded model. The results show the potential of this bimodal imaging‐visible nanomedicine to improve the performance of EPCs in repairing arterial injury, which may push forward the stem cell‐based therapy of cardiovascular disease.

中文翻译：

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双模成像-整合 CXCR4 和 VEGFa 基因的可见纳米医学指导内皮祖细胞协同再内皮化

治疗血管内皮损伤的一个主要挑战是恢复内皮完整性，其中内皮祖细胞（EPC）发挥着核心作用。EPCs 移植作为一种有前途的治疗手段，需要经历两个相互关联的过程，即 EPCs 在体内的归巢和分化，因此，其中任何一个过程的缺乏都可能会极大地影响基于 EPCs 的治疗结果。在此，应用聚合物纳米载体同时递送CXCR4和VEGFa基因，以同时促进EPCs的迁移和分化。此外，MRI T ₂造影剂SPION和NIR染料Cy7.5也被加载到纳米载体中以追踪体内EPC。基于两个共传递基因的协同效应，在大鼠颈动脉裸露模型中实现了 EPC 的改善的再内皮化。结果表明，这种双模态成像-可见纳米药物具有提高EPC修复动脉损伤性能的潜力，这可能会推动基于干细胞的心血管疾病治疗。