Drug delivery with living cells

Next generation drug delivery: circulatory cells-mediated nanotherapeutic approaches

“…RBCs are biodegradable as the reticuloendothelial system (RES) organs rapidly remove the old, incompatible cells. Several inherent properties of RBCs such as RES targeting ability, reversible deformation, established ex vivo processing methods, and high drug loading capacity make them a promising carrier [4][5][6]. Leukocytes play a significant role in the immune system, cell interaction, and cell adhesion [4].…”

“…These properties include high biocompatibility (if immunologically compatible), high mobility, a longer circulation lifespan, inherent biodegradability through known clearance pathways, natural capability of cell/tissue targeting, high drug loading capacity due to their large internal volume, remarkable stability in circulation, and their ability to cross biological barriers [1,[4][5][6][7]. This editorial article provides an outline of several circulatory cells and their inherent properties (Tables 1) in the design of cell-mediated delivery systems (Figure 1).…”

“…Stem cells in drug delivery applications have versatile advantages including their natural targeting capability, selfrenewability, high potency, potential of migrating towards tumor microenvironment, easy harvesting and in vitro culture, hypo-immunogenicity, and differentiability into specialized cells [4,6]. Mesenchymal stem cells have been employed for tissue regeneration vehicles in gene therapy [10].…”

“…Circulatory cells have received a significant interest as drug delivery vehicles because of several attractive and distinctive features arise from their unique structures, mechanical properties, and surface functionality [1,[4][5][6][7][8]. These properties include high biocompatibility (if immunologically compatible), high mobility, a longer circulation lifespan, inherent biodegradability through known clearance pathways, natural capability of cell/tissue targeting, high drug loading capacity due to their large internal volume, remarkable stability in circulation, and their ability to cross biological barriers [1,[4][5][6][7].…”

“…Thus, alternative drug delivery approaches are desirable. One emerging strategy to address the above nanotechnology challenges is to select body's own circulatory cells as drug carriers [1,[4][5][6][7][8].…”