Platelet-Like Gold Nanostars for Cancer Therapy: The Ability to Treat Cancer and Evade Immune Reactions.

Min Woo Kim,Gibok Lee,Yong Il Park,Takuro Niidome,Yoshihiro Komohara,Ruda Lee

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.00133

Abstract

The cell membrane-coating strategy has opened new opportunities for the development of biomimetic and multifunctional drug delivery platforms. Recently, a variety of gold nanoparticles, which can combine with blood cell membranes, have been shown to provide an effective approach for cancer therapy. Meanwhile, this class of hybrid nanostructures can deceive the immunological system to exhibit synergistic therapeutic effects. Here, we synthesized red blood cell (RBC) and platelet membrane-coated gold nanostars containing curcumin (R/P-cGNS) and evaluated whether R/P-cGNS had improved anticancer efficacy. We also validated a controlled release profile under near-infrared irradiation for the ability to target melanoma cells and to have an immunomodulatory effect on macrophages. RBC membrane coating provided self-antigens; therefore, it could evade clearance by macrophages, while platelet membrane coating provided targetability to cancer cells. Additionally, the nutraceutical curcumin provided anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects. In conclusion, the results presented in this study demonstrated that R/P-cGNS can deliver drugs to the target region and enhance anticancer effects while avoiding macrophage phagocytosis. We believe that R/P-cGNS can be a new design of the cell-based hybrid system for effective cancer therapy.

Highlights

Cell membranes are useful materials that are often employed in the drug delivery field
Given the hydrophobicity profile of curcumin, it was encapsulated into the prepared blood cell membranes
We found that red blood cell (RBC) membrane coating can help to escape from macrophage phagocytosis; the CD47-SIRPα interaction can directly regulate immune responses (Figures 5, 6)

Summary

Introduction

Cell membranes are useful materials that are often employed in the drug delivery field. Inspired by their nature, many approaches to developing multifunctional drug carriers have been reported, which include so-called biomimetic drug delivery systems (Banskota et al, 2017). Coating a variety of synthetic materials, including carbon, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), graphene, and gold nanoparticles with natural cell membranes such as those of cancer cells, stem cells, white blood cells, red blood cells (RBCs), and platelets (PLTs) have been widely used in the drug delivery field (Gao et al, 2017; Zhang et al, 2018a; Zhen et al, 2019). Cell membranes share properties with lipid-based nanoparticles and leverage these biological functions. The membrane-coating strategy significantly increases the biocompatibility of nanoparticles and improves their bioavailability (Fang et al, 2018)

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion