Developing Targeted Stimuli-Responsive Drug Delivery Systems for Cardiovascular Diseases

Acute arterial thrombosis is a life-threatening medical condition with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Treatment of acute thrombosis using plasminogen activators, the gold standard treatment in clinical settings, comes with some limitations such as the potential risk of fatal systemic bleeding. The research work, presented in this thesis, describes the development and evaluation of two promising liposomal platforms for near-infrared light responsive release and targeted delivery of therapeutics to thrombosis. The newly developed platforms offer a potentially safer alternative to current treatments and open further opportunities to the use of stimuli-responsive nanomedicine and antibody delivery to efficiently treat acute thrombosis.