Erythrocyte-inspired delivery systems

Merging the best of both worlds: hybrid lipid-enveloped matrix nanocomposites in drug delivery

The advent of nanotechnology has revolutionized drug delivery in terms of improving drug efficacy and safety. Both polymer-based and lipid-based drug-loaded nanocarriers have demonstrated clinical benefit to date. However, to address the multifaceted drug delivery challenges ahead and further expand the spectrum of therapeutic applications, hybrid lipid-polymer nanocomposites have been designed to merge the beneficial features of both polymeric drug delivery systems and liposomes in a single nanocarrier. This review focuses on different classes of nanohybrids characterized by a drug-loaded polymeric matrix core enclosed in a lipid shell. Various nanoengineering approaches to obtain lipid-polymer nanocomposites with a core-shell nanoarchitecture will be discussed as well as their predominant applications in drug delivery.

Lipid-insertion enables targeting functionalization of erythrocyte membrane-cloaked nanoparticles

RBC membrane-cloaked polymeric nanoparticles represent an emerging nanocarrier platform with extended circulation in vivo. A lipid-insertion method is employed to functionalize these nanoparticles without the need for direct chemical conjugation. Insertion of both folate and the nucleolin-targeting aptamer AS1411 shows receptor-specific targeting against model cancer cell lines.

Engineering antiphagocytic biomimetic drug carriers

Drug-delivery carriers have the potential to not only treat but also diagnose many diseases; however, they still lack the complexity of natural-particulate systems. Cell-based therapies using tumor-targeting T cells and tumor-homing mesenchymal stem cells have given researchers a means to exploit the characteristics exhibited by innate-biological entities. Similarly, immune evasion by pathogens has inspired the development of natural polymers to cloak drug carriers. The 'marker-of-self' CD47 protein, which is found ubiquitously on mammalian cell surfaces, has been used for evading phagocyte clearance of drug carriers. This review will focus on the recent progress of drug carriers co-opting the tricks that cells in nature use to hide safely under the radar of the body's innate immune system.

Human erythrocytes covered with magnetic core-shell nanoparticles for multimodal imaging

Surface functionalization of human red blood cells (hRBCs) with fluorescent and magnetic silica core-shell nanoparticles is used to design a carrier suitable for multimodal imaging with a long circulating time. The coated magnetic hRBCs show no hemolytic activity, while the advantage of the affinity of proteins for silica allows a further coating.

Lipid pools as photolabile "protecting groups": design of light-activatable bioagents

Inactive in the membrane: Lipidated light-responsive constructs that sequester bioagents (R, see scheme) to the membranes of organelles and cells have been constructed. When membrane-bound, the bioagent is not susceptible to processing by its biological target. Photolysis releases the bioagent from its membrane anchor and thereby renders it biologically active.

Surface functionalization of gold nanoparticles with red blood cell membranes

Gold nanoparticles are enclosed in cellular membranes derived from natural red blood cells (RBCs) by a top-down approach. The gold nanoparticles exhibit a complete membrane surface layer and biological characteristics of the source cells. The combination of inorganic gold nanoparticles with biological membranes is a compelling way to develop biomimetic gold nanostructures for future applications, such as those requiring evasion of the immune system.

'Marker-of-self' functionalization of nanoscale particles through a top-down cellular membrane coating approach

We investigate the 'marker-of-self' functionalization of nanoparticles through coating of natural RBC membranes. The membrane translocation approach is shown to be highly efficient and bestows nanoparticles with correctly oriented and functional immunomodulatory proteins such as CD47 at equivalent density to natural RBCs.