Nano-biomaterials for cardiovascular applications: Clinical perspective

Cardiovascular diseases, including ischemic heart disease and stroke, are responsible for nearly 25% of all deaths worldwide. Globally, their prevalence continues to increase, in spite of enormous progress in cardiovascular diagnostics and therapy. For therapeutic and regenerative purposes, biomaterials promise solutions with multiple advantages over synthetic materials. Furthermore, their easy availability as nanoformulations recommends their application as drug carriers or protective nanoshells improving the biocompatibility of imaging agents. In this work, we review the most promising and clinically meaningful scientific reports with regard to (nano) biomaterials with particular focus on potential improvements of existing, and development of novel constructs for cardiovascular applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.