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Reducing lipid uptake of macrophages and stimulating cholesterol efflux are two necessary steps for atherosclerotic plaque regression. In this study, a compound of curcumin nicotinate (CN) was synthesized from nicotinic acid which can raise raising high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and curcumin which can lower lipid. However, the shortcomings of CN, such as poor water solubility and low bioavailability, limit its clinical application. In this article, a CN loaded biomimetic nanosystem was constructed by using Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) to improve its solubility, thereby changing its administration route. In addition, hyaluronic acid (HA) modification on the biomimetic PB NPs was adopted to prolong circulation time and improve the accumulation of drugs in the plaque region. Mechanism studies have shown that the constructed nanosystem could exert anti-AS effects through the pathway of Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9(PCSK9) /Low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R), ATP Binding Cassette Transporter A1(ABCA1) /Caveolin-1 /Liver X Receptor (LXR). These findings indicated that the designed nano-platform is expected to be used for prevention and targeted therapy of atherosclerosis.

Phenotypic switching is the main cause of the abnormal proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We previously showed that Daxx exerted negative regulatory effect on AngII-induced VSMC proliferation and migration. However, the function of Daxx in VSMC phenotype switching remained unknown. Nicotinate-curcumin (NC) is an esterification derivative of niacin and curcumin that can prevent the formation of atherosclerosis. We found that NC significantly decreased AngII-induced VSMC phenotype switching. Furthermore, NC significantly inhibited AngII-induced cell proliferation and migration. Moreover, NC upregulated Daxx expression and regulated the PTEN/Akt signaling pathway. We concluded that NC inhibited AngII-induced VSMC phenotype switching by regulating the PTEN/Akt pathway, and through a mechanism that might be associated with the upregulation of Daxx expression.