Advances in refunctionalization of erythrocyte-based nanomedicine for enhancing cancer-targeted drug delivery

Abstract

Cancer remains a daunting and cureless disease, which is responsible for one-sixth of human deaths worldwide. These mortality rates have been expected to rise in the future due to the side effects of conventional treatments (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery), which can be addressed by applying nanomedicine. In order to escape from biological barriers, such nanomedicine should be mimicked and designed to be stealthy while navigating in the bloodstream. To achieve this, scientists take advantage of erythrocytes (red blood cells; RBCs) as drug carriers and develop RBC membrane (RBCm) coating nanotechnology. Thanks to the significant advances in nanoengineering, various facile surface functionalization methods can be applied to arm RBCm with not only targeting moieties, but also imaging agents, therapeutic agents, and nanoparticles, which are useful for theranostic nanomedicine. This review focuses on refunctionalization of erythrocyte-based nanomedicine for enhancing cancer-targeted drug delivery.

PP2A and tumor radiotherapy

“…While mainstays of tumor treatment efforts, conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy often yield unsatisfactory therapeutic outcomes [ 1 – 3 ]. These poor outcomes are generally linked to tumor cell multidrug resistance and resistance to ionizing radiation [ 4 – 6 ].…”

Nanoerythrocyte Membrane–Enveloped ROS‐Responsive 5‐Aminolevulinic Acid Prodrug Nanostructures with Robust Atheroprotection

“…[ 23,24 ] Among potential sources of cells, red blood cells (RBCs) are the gold standard for cell membrane coating, which is possible for further functionalization. [ 25–28 ] Different sized polymeric‐core nanoparticles (NPs) have been successfully coated with RBC membrane (RBCM), ranging from 65 to 340 nm. [ 29 ] However, the size of RBCM‐NPs greatly influences their half‐life (circulation) and accumulation (biodistribution) in livers.…”

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of liposomes modified with polypeptides and red cell membrane as a novel drug delivery system for myocardium targeting

“…RCM is natural, nontoxic, and biocompatible and it can be dissociated and dissolved in the organism's natural conditions. It was previously demonstrated that the RCM has a promising use in modifying nanoparticles (Hu et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2016;Fang et al, 2017;Sun et al, 2019). By taking advantage of the 'maker-of-self' protein CD47 on the RBC surface, RCM modified nanoparticles emerged as a strategy to help nanoparticles to avoid the recognition by the immune system, thus prolonging the circulation time of nanoparticles (Oldenborg, 2000).…”