Department of Adult Intensive Care Unit, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, PR China; Department of Cardiology and Hypertension, Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Stress and Cardiovascular Disease, Yanbian University Hospital, Yanji, Jilin, PR China
Megumi Narisawa
Department of Cardiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichiken, 4668550, Japan
Pan Wu
Department of Adult Intensive Care Unit, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, PR China; Corresponding author.
Xiangkun Meng
Department of Vascular Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310000, PR China; Corresponding author.
Xian Wu Cheng
Department of Cardiology and Hypertension, Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Stress and Cardiovascular Disease, Yanbian University Hospital, Yanji, Jilin, PR China; Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines of the Changbai Mountain, Ministry of Education, Yanbian University, Yanji, Jilin, 133002, PR China; Corresponding author. Department of Cardiology and Hypertension, Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Stress and Cardiovascular Disease, 1327 Juzijie, Yanji, 133000, PR China.
Drug-eluting stents (DES) and dual antiplatelet regimens have significantly improved the clinical management of ischemic heart disease; however, the drugs loaded with DES in clinical practice are mostly paclitaxel or rapamycin derivatives, which target symptoms of post implantation proliferation and inflammation, leading to delayed re-endothelialization and neo-atherosclerosis. Along with the treatments already in place, there is a need for novel strategies to lessen the negative clinical outcomes of DES delays as well as a need for greater understanding of their pathobiological mechanisms. This review concentrates on the function of cathepsins (Cats) in the inflammatory response and granulation tissue formation that follow Cat-induced damage to the vasculature scaffold, as well as the functions of Cats in intimal hyperplasia, which is characterized by the migration and proliferation of smooth muscle cells, and endothelial denudation, re-endothelialization, and/or neo-endothelialization. Additionally, Cats can alter essential neointima formation and immune response inside scaffolds, and if Cats are properly controlled in vivo, they may improve scaffold biocompatibility. This unique profile of functions could lead to an original concept for a cathepsin-based coronary intervention treatment as an adjunct to stent placement.
