Platelets membrane camouflaged irinotecan-loaded gelatin nanogels for in vivo colorectal carcinoma therapy

Abstract

Nanodrug delivery systems possess the potential to revolutionize cancer therapy. An ideal nanoplatform should can effectively avoid the clearance of reticuloendothelial system (RES) and targeted accumulate at tumor sites. In addition, it should be nontoxic to the organism. Herein, the authors fabricated a biomimetic nanodrug delivery system possessed with these properties for targeted colorectal carcinoma therapy. This bilayer system was composed of irinotecan (IRN)-loaded gelatin nanogels (GN) as the inner cores and platelets membranes (PTM) as the outer shells, noted as PTM/GN/IRN. The resulting core–shell nanostructure of PTM/GN/IRN could effectively prevent the premature release of the laden IRN, which was beneficial for reducing the system side effects of IRN. Meanwhile, because of the tumor targeting ability of the coated PTM, PTM/GN/IRN could effectively accumulate at tumor sites. The in vivo antitumor activity results towards the HT-29 xenografts mouse models indicated that the PTM/GN/IRN could obviously suppress the tumor cells growth through causing the necrosis and apoptosis of tumor cells. In addition, since the PTM coating could avoid the premature release of the laden IRN, PTM/GN/IRN exhibited minimal side effects. The work presented here provides a promising strategy for effective targeted therapy of colorectal carcinoma.