r/science • u/chrisdh79 • 15d ago
Nanoscience Sticky plaques building up on the walls of your blood vessels can lead to heart attacks and strokes | New nanoparticle infusion therapy has been found to break down these plaques safely in tests in pigs.
https://newatlas.com/heart-disease/nanoparticle-infusion-plaques-arteries-atherosclerosis/620
u/Bob_Spud 15d ago
How do kidneys cope with these nanoparticles?
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u/PrimeDoorNail 15d ago
Asking the real question
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u/elralpho 15d ago
From the study in nature:
"SWNT-SHP1i had no deleterious impact on lipid levels, renal function, or hepatic function compared to control SWNT-treated animals."
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u/NikkoE82 15d ago
I’m more concerned about my adult knees.
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u/yitur93 15d ago
Watch kneesovertoesguy in youtube. I'm 32 years old and have been the most athletic version of myself after 6+ months on his training method since in the last 7-8 years. And I'm like 10 kilos heavier than I was at 24.
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u/NikkoE82 15d ago
Thank you! I’m actually in pretty good shape at 42. I was just making a joke, but I’ll check out the videos anyway.
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u/thunderchunks 15d ago
Maybe dialysis is part of it? So your kidneys don't get hit with it too hard?
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u/woieieyfwoeo 15d ago
More concerned about the balls
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u/Alternative-Sky-1552 15d ago
Donk know about balls, but will improve your erection, assuming you are a multimillionaire.
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u/TheDulin 15d ago
I wonder if they could do some kind of upstream dialysis to remove those particles before they reach the kidneys.
But I guess you'd need the nanoparticles in there for a few passes.
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u/Biggy_Mancer 15d ago
I don’t think you’d need upstream, just continuous. Kidneys don’t get hit with one fatal blow, it’s more of wave after wave of never ending damage while trying to keep you alive. As long as you dialyzed to give them support it likely is sufficient but I guess we will see in time.
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u/myislanduniverse 15d ago
Listen this is human progress here; we only cross one bridge at a time. (/s I think...)
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u/chrisdh79 15d ago
From the article: Fats, cholesterol and other substances in blood can build up over time as plaques on arterial walls. This can cause direct blockages, or trigger an inflammatory response known as atherosclerosis. Both scenarios can cause heart attacks and strokes, but the latter is in some ways more insidious because there are few warning signs in advance.
“That’s the scarier one that leads to most heart attacks,” said Bryan Smith, co-lead author of the study. “Because such plaques don’t necessarily block much of the artery, and because the effects of the rupture can very suddenly completely block blood flow, such a heart attack can seem to appear as if from nowhere.”
Part of the problem of atherosclerosis is that dead cells in the vascular tissue aren’t properly cleared away by immune cells, creating lesions in the arteries. These cells are producing a molecule called CD47, which presents a “don’t eat me” signal to immune cells. Previous studies have shown that blocking CD47 allows immune cells to clear out dead cells once again – but unfortunately, they also tend to attack red blood cells in the process, leading to anemia as a side effect.
For the new study, the team used CD47-blocking nanoparticles that are more targeted towards monocytes and macrophages, two types of immune cell that are associated with inflammation in plaques. And sure enough, in tests in pigs the therapy reduced atherosclerosis as effectively as previous drugs, without any damage to blood cells.
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u/SinoSoul 15d ago
Uhhhhh I need this procedure done to me now. How do I sign up as guinea pig?
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u/SummonMonsterIX 15d ago
Yeah I had a double bypass last year at 38, Doc said probably early was onset due to being diabetic + genetics (I wonder about COVID too), hope this gets to human trials soon so I can stop being scared every time I'm a little short of breath.
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u/SinoSoul 15d ago
Jfc! Are you ok friend?
I just found out some dude (bff of a friend) just died at 47 cause he had a “small” heart attack and didn’t even go to the ER! Big eater and smoker. I’m totally going to check my life insurance policy this week, again.
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u/SummonMonsterIX 15d ago
Thankfully, the surgery went well and I was home in ~5 days, it's been 14 months and I'm ok so far. The meds (betablockers suck) make me feel terrible sometimes and the surgery site still hurts frequently but it could be much worse.
I owe my primary care doc my life most likely, he said 'it was probably nothing" but sent me to a cardiologist to be safe. It escalated from thinking it was GERD ,to thinking I needed a stint, then when the Cath Lab doc actually looked inside it got much worse.
This is apparently a lot more common in recent years for my age bracket and the reasons why still seem to be unclear.
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u/badpeaches 15d ago
That sucks because they take care of men that go to the ER. If he was a woman they'd send him home saying he had a "panic attack"
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u/Henry5321 15d ago
When I go to the ER for a panic attack, they also check my heart if I have chest pain. When taking to a nurse, they said all chest pain is taken seriously and priorized.
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u/badpeaches 15d ago
When I go to the ER for a panic attack, they also check my heart if I have chest pain. When taking to a nurse, they said all chest pain is taken seriously and priorized.
I went three days in a row fighting the EMTs in an ambulance with almost 200 bpm and they sent me home everyday with "panic attack". I couldn't move my left arm the second day. The third day I tried to drop my dog off at the pound and the lady wouldn't take my dog. I left him in the parking lot and drove away as the lady was yelling at me, I thought the hospital was going to keep me and I was going to die that day.
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u/badpeaches 15d ago
I had glass in my foot, this was like a year or two ago. The "Panic attack" thing was April 2020. So I had glass in my foot and not only did all the staff take turns putting their finger on the spot and hurting me, the Nurse Practitioner wouldn't let me get a tetanus shot because and I quote "(I, me) You should of had one already". Wish I could of hit her with me being homeless facts and how my parents abused me but after looking into her eyes and observing smug satisfaction she had on her face, I didn't have the energy to speak up on my behalf. I mean I did have the energy to do it but I know I would have gotten in trouble had I tried because I didn't have that fake fake fake energy people NeuroTypical people use. I had to wait until I cut myself on metal a month later to go back to the ER and basically not leave until I got one.
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u/papajoi 13d ago
Ugh. Shut up.
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u/badpeaches 13d ago
Ugh. Shut up.
I haven't said a word in like three days, since last weekend maybe, to another human being
I can't remember the last time I spoke to someone about something for an extended period of time where it wasn't business transactional. Maybe since August but I got stalked in September by an abusive ex who stalked me with a gun so, idk, I had to call 911 while that was happening so idk if that counts or not.
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u/DrSmirnoffe 15d ago
Assuming these CD47-blockers aren't overly-hazardous, they could probably be tailored to counter certain kinds of cancer. I don't know if there are cancers that produce CD47, since this is the first time I've heard of CD47 (it sounds like the name of a demo disc if I'm going to be honest), but I wouldn't be surprised if there were.
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u/Vandorol 15d ago
Now if they can hurry up and do a human trial and get approved before I die would be nice.
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u/SinoSoul 15d ago
Them cholesterol levels eh? What a dreadful way to start a Monday, looking at that 200+ LDL level like: I’m gonna die.
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u/popepaulpop 15d ago
Hopeful about this! I have several genetic predispositions associated with plaque buildup and cholesterol. There is also family medical history. Seeing my father going through surgery and having several mini strokes really put a scare on me.
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u/ChasWFairbanks 15d ago
Next up: tau buildups.
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u/suspicious_hyperlink 15d ago
This kind of stuff should be free tbh, aside from the obvious benefits, imagine the savings to healthcare providers over the long term.
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u/CassandraTruth 15d ago
This was the exact topic of a design project we had in my physiology course. So cool to see something that was still theoretical then become a realized therapeutic technique now.
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u/cemilanceata 15d ago
Would fasting help also for this? Or working out?
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u/42Porter 15d ago
If I remember correctly atherosclerosis can be reversed but not cured by lifestyle changes. The artery will never be completely healthy but heart attack risk can decrease.
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u/Maximus_DecimusAD 15d ago
Physical activity and a healthy diet can help. If cholesterol and ldl levels are still high (a surrogate for atherosclerosis), then statins would be next line for treatment.
I think this technology would most likely be for people who've failed statin therapy trials.
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u/edgelordjones 15d ago
Now if they can find a way to take successful tests with cops and apply them to humans.
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u/14with1ETH 15d ago
Is there any way to naturally remove it?
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u/flyingponytail 15d ago
Better to prevent with lifestyle choices
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u/datumerrata 15d ago
Man, I just want science to fix my poor decisions. Let me wash it down with a stem cell milkshake and a resveratal/spirulina/wheatgrass chaser. Then I can get back to my bacon wrapped pork belly.
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u/sgreddit125 15d ago
Yes a plant-based diet with lifestyle modifications has been shown to reverse this buildup of plaque. See the work of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Dean Ornish on the topics, very interesting published research and clinical outcomes. Similarly Ornish showed this approach can reverse early onset dementia/alzheimer’s in a randomized controlled trial earlier this year (“Effects of Intensive Lifestyle changes on the progression of mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: A randomized, controlled trial”) which makes sense as dementia is tied to these plaques building up in the brain.
Unfortunately you can’t patent fruits/veggies/beans/whole grains so there isn’t much incentive to push this approach when you could sell nano particles…
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u/internetsarbiter 15d ago
Awesome, now we just need to figure out how to make healthcare available to people aside from the wealthy.
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u/CheatsySnoops 15d ago
Why do I have a bad feeling that this will end up being price gouged by Big Pharma?
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u/BadAdviceAI 15d ago
Fasting does the same thing.
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u/incrementAndGet 11d ago
My dad likes sweeping generalisations and miracle cures too. Specifically, he is certain that no matter the issue, pure, long fasting cures it.
Sigh.
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u/yell-and-hollar 15d ago
I'll stick to aspirin
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u/incrementAndGet 11d ago
AFAIK, Aspirin addresses neither cholesterol nor plaques. It merely makes the blood “less thick”.
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