Interactions between cyclodextrins and cellular components: Towards greener medical applications?

Leclercq, Loïc

In 2016, Zimmer et al. published on the effect of HP-β-CD in order to reduce atherosclerotic plaques [133] . The HP-β-CD can be used to dissolve cholesterol crystal (responsible for the complex inflammatory response) which can be excreted from the body in urine. Mice were fed with a cholesterol-rich diet for 12 weeks in order to promote fatty plaques in their blood vessels (i.e., to obtain atherosclerotic mice). After 8 weeks, they started the injection of HP-β-CD (2 injections by week). Over the remaining four weeks, the authors observed a plaque reduction in atherosclerotic mice that had consumed HP-β-CD compared with plaques in the blood vessels of untreated animals (≈46% reduction). From a mechanistic point of view, the researchers suspect that the CD boosts the activity of macro-phages, enabling them to attack excess cholesterol without causing inflammation. Indeed, CD increases liver X receptor (LXR) involved in the antiatherosclerotic and anti-inflammatory effects as well as in the RCT improvement.