Cancer‐associated‐platelet‐inspired nanomedicines for cancer therapy

Abstract

Platelets, with hemostasis and thrombosis activities, are one of the key components in the blood circulation. As a guard, they rapidly respond to any abnormal blood vessel injury signal and release their granules' contents, which induce their adhesion and aggregation on wound site for hemostasis. Recently, increasing evidence has indicated that platelets are critically involved in the growth and metastasis of cancer cells by releasing a variety of cytokines and chemokines to stimulate cancer cell proliferation and various angiogenic regulators to accelerate tumor angiogenesis. Platelets also secrete active transforming growth factor beta (TGF‐β) to promote the epithelial–mesenchymal transition of cancer cells and their extravasation from primary site, and form microthrombus on the surface of cancer cells to protect them from immune attack and high‐speed shear force in the circulation. Therefore, blocking platelet–cancer cell interaction may be an attractive strategy to treat primary tumor and/or prevent cancer metastasis. However, systemic inhibition or depletion of platelets brings risk of severe bleeding complication. Cancer‐associated‐platelets‐targeted nanomedicines and biomimetic nanomedicines coated with platelet membrane can be used for targeted anticancer drug delivery, due to their natural targeting ability to tumor cells and platelets. In the current review, we first summarized the platelet mechanisms of action in physiological condition and their multiple roles in cancer progression and conventional antiplatelet therapeutics. We then highlighted the recent progress on the design and fabrication of cancer‐associated‐platelet‐targeted nanomedicines and platelet membrane coating nanomedicines for cancer therapy. Finally, we discussed opportunities and challenges and offered our thoughts for the future development. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies Biology‐Inspired Nanomaterials > Lipid‐Based Structures

Serum Anti-BRAT1 is a Common Molecular Biomarker for Gastrointestinal Cancers and Atherosclerosis

“…Platelets regulate thrombosis and hemostasis. Nevertheless, a few studies suggested that crosstalk between tumor cells and platelets facilitates cancer progression and metastasis ( 54 , 55 ). Tumorigenesis is accompanied by thrombosis and thromboembolism.…”

Biomimetic Exosomes: A New Generation of Drug Delivery System

“…In recent years, nano-delivery systems have received extensive attention due to their ability to deliver drugs to targeting lesions ( Geranpayehvaghei et al, 2021 ). Therapeutic agents included small molecules and macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids.…”

Beyond the thrombus: Platelet‐inspired nanomedicine approaches in inflammation, immune response, and cancer

“…Several research groups in recent years have also explored an interesting strategy of coating anticancer drug loaded nanoparticles with lipid membrane extracted from platelets (a process termed biointerfacing), with the rationale that the some of the tumor‐interactive mechanisms of the platelets will be retained in the coated membrane to enable tumor‐targeted drug delivery. In this framework, platelet membrane‐coated nanoparticles have been used to deliver immune checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapy drugs, and photothermal therapy agents to cancer, with promising results 108,109 . In another analogous approach, doxorubicin‐loaded nanoparticles were coated with platelet‐derived membrane as well as decorated with TNF‐related apoptosis‐inducing ligand, and these systems showed promising efficacy in tumor‐targeting and reducing metastasis 110 .…”

“…In this framework, platelet membrane-coated nanoparticles have been used to deliver immune checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapy drugs, and photothermal therapy agents to cancer, with promising results. 108,109 In another analogous approach, doxorubicin-loaded nanoparticles were coated with platelet-derived membrane as well as decorated with TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand, and these systems showed promising efficacy in tumor-targeting and reducing metastasis. 110 In another recent approach, detergent-treated platelets lacking adhesion and aggregation capabilities were shown to act as "platelet decoys" that can inhibit platelet arrest on matrix proteins in vitro and reduce tumor metastasis in mouse model in vivo.…”