Despite considerable advancements
in cell membrane-camouflaged
nanocarriers to leverage natural cell functions, artificial nanocarriers
that can accurately mimic both the biological and physical properties
of cells are urgently needed. Herein, inspired by the important effect
of the stiffness and deformability of natural red blood cells (RBCs)
on their life span and flowing through narrow vessels, we report the
construction of RBC membrane-camouflaged nanocarriers that can mimic
RBCs at different life stages and study how the deformability of RBC-derived
nanocarriers affects their biological behaviors. RBC membrane-coated
elastic poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate hydrogel nanoparticles (RBC-ENPs)
simulating dynamic RBCs exhibited high immunocompatibility with minimum
immunoglobulin adsorption in the surface protein corona, resulting
in reduced opsonization in macrophages and ultralong circulation.
Furthermore, RBC-ENPs can deform like RBCs and achieve excellent diffusion
in tumor extracellular matrix, leading to improved multicellular spheroid
penetration and tumor tissue accumulation. In mouse cancer models,
doxorubicin-loaded RBC-ENPs demonstrated superior antitumor efficacy
to the first-line chemotherapeutic drug PEGylated doxorubicin liposomes.
Our work highlights that tuning the physical properties of cell membrane-derived
nanocarriers may offer an alternative approach for the bionic design
of nanomedicines in the future.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been proved a promising small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery vehicle to mediate gene‐silencing. Tumour‐derived extracellular vesicles (TDEVs) as genetic exchange vectors in the tumour microenvironment, enable intercellular communication for a wide range of endogenous cargo molecules, such as RNAs and proteins. However, the oncogenic cargo of TDEVs limits their application in siRNA delivery for cancer therapy. Herein, we isolated TDEVs from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and derived TDEV membranes by abandoning their content. Innovative TDEV membrane hybrid lipid nanovesicles (LEVs) were then fabricated by fusion of TDEV membranes and phospholipids to realize precise delivery to tumours and highly efficient transfection of siRNA. The TDEV membranes endow LEVs with ‘homing’ targeting ability, facilitating specific internalisation into parent HCC cells primarily through heparan sulfate proteoglycan‐mediated pathways. Unlike conventional lipid‐based nanovesicles, LEVs can bypass the endosomal degradation pathway, boost the delivery of siRNA through the Golgi and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) intracellular ‘freeway’ transportation, achieving a 1.7‐fold improvement in siRNA transfection efficiency compared with liposomes. Additionally, siRNA loaded LEVs were demonstrated to enhance the antitumour efficacy in HCC bearing mice through effective gene silencing in the tumour sites. Our results highlight the potential application of the TDEV membrane‐derived nanovesicles as an advanced siRNA delivery strategy for cancer therapy.
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