Recent advances in erythrocyte membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles for the delivery of anti-cancer therapeutics

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Red blood cell (or erythrocyte) membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles (RBC-NPs) not only have a superior circulation life and do not induce accelerated blood clearance but also possess special functions, which offers great potential in cancer therapy.

Areas covered

This review focuses on the recent advances of RBC-NPs for delivering various agents to treat cancers in light of their vital role in improving drug delivery. Meanwhile, the construction and in vivo behavior of RBC-NPs are discussed to provide an in-depth understanding of the basis of RBC-NPs for improved cancer drug delivery.

Expert opinion

Although RBC-NPs are quite prospective in delivering anti-cancer therapeutics, they are still in their infancy stage and many challenges need to be overcome for successful translation into the clinic. The preparation and modification of RBC membranes, the optimization of coating methods, the scale-up production and the quality control of RBC-NPs, and the drug loading and release should be carefully considered in the clinical translation of RBC-NPs for cancer therapy.

KEYWORDS:

• Erythrocyte membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles
• biomimetic nanoparticles
• cancer therapy
• targeting drug delivery
• pharmacokinetics

Article highlights

• The construction, drug loading, and drug release of RBC-NPs are presented in detail.

• The in vivo behavior of RBC-NPs that has usually been ignored in other reviews is discussed to provide an in-depth understanding of the basis of RBC-NPs for improved cancer drug delivery.

• Recent advances in RBC-NPs to deliver anti-cancer therapeutics for cancer chemotherapy, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and immunotherapy were systematically summarized.

• The key factors to be considered in the clinical translation of RBC-NPs are discussed to provide future directions of RBC-NPs for cancer therapy.

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81773283).