[Rapamycin: from the laboratory to the treatment of patients' arteries].
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of basic science, animal models, and early clinical trials with no systematic methodology.
What was done
This narrative review describes the translational history of rapamycin (sirolimus) in cardiovascular disease. It outlines cellular mechanisms involving smooth muscle cell proliferation and p27 cyclin modulation, findings from porcine angioplasty models, and the early clinical implementation of rapamycin-eluting coronary stents.
What was found
The abstract provides a qualitative summary and reports no quantitative values or effect estimates. It reports that rapamycin inhibits smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation through p27 activation, reduces vessel wall thickening in porcine angioplasty models, and reduces post-stent restenosis rates in human clinical studies.
Why it matters
It documents the translational development of rapamycin from an immunosuppressive agent to a local antiproliferative coating on stents to combat post-angioplasty restenosis.
Limits
The paper is a non-systematic narrative review providing no quantitative data, sample sizes, or statistical endpoints in the abstract. Clinical efficacy and safety in specific high-risk subgroups, such as diabetic patients, were unproven at the time of publication.
Cited by
- supports Rapamycin was initially investigated as an antifungal before being identified as an immunosuppressant.