Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Liposomal Delivery Of Azithromycin Enhances Its Immunotherapeutic Efficacy And Reduces Toxicity In Myocardial Infarction, Ahmed Al-Darraji, Renée R. Donahue, Himi Tripathi, Hsuan Peng, Bryana M. Levitan, Lakshman Chelvarajan, Dalia Haydar, Erhe Gao, David Henson, John C. Gensel, David J. Feola, Vincent J. Venditto, Ahmed K. Abdel-Latif

Gill Heart & Vascular Institute Faculty Publications

A growing body of evidence shows that altering the inflammatory response by alternative macrophage polarization is protective against complications related to acute myocardial infarction (MI). We have previously shown that oral azithromycin (AZM), initiated prior to MI, reduces inflammation and its negative sequelae on the myocardium. Here, we investigated the immunomodulatory role of a liposomal AZM formulation (L-AZM) in a clinically relevant model to enhance its therapeutic potency and avoid off-target effects. L-AZM (40 or 10 mg/kg, IV) was administered immediately post-MI and compared to free AZM (F-AZM). L-AZM reduced cardiac toxicity and associated mortality by 50% in mice. We …