An exosome-mimicking membrane hybrid nanoplatform for targeted treatment toward Kras-mutant pancreatic carcinoma

Cell membrane derived biomimetic nanomedicine for precision delivery of traditional Chinese medicine in cancer therapy

The rapidly developing modern nanotechnology has brought new vitality to the application of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), improving the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of unmodified natural drugs. However, synthetic materials inevitably introduce incompatibilities. This has led to focusing on biomimetic drug delivery systems (DDS) based on biologically derived cell membranes. This "top-down" approach to nanomedicine preparation is simple and effective, as the inherited cell membranes and cell surface substances can mimic nature when delivering drugs back into the body, interacting similarly to the source cells at the biological interface. The concept of biologically derived TCM and biomimetic membranes aligns well with nature, the human body, and medicine, thereby enhancing the in vivo compatibility of TCM. This review focused on the recent progress using biomimetic membranes for TCM in cancer therapy, emphasizing the effective integration of biomimetic nanomedicine and TCM in applications such as cancer diagnosis, imaging, precision treatment, and immunotherapy. The review also provided potential suggestions on the challenges and prospects in this field.

Biomimetic nanosystems for pancreatic cancer therapy: A review

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a highly lethal and aggressive malignancy, currently one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, in both women and men. PC is highly resistant to standard chemotherapy (CT) because its immunosuppressive and hypoxic tumor microenvironment and a dense desmoplastic stroma compartment limiting drug accessibility and perfusion. Although standard CT is one of the main therapeutic strategies for PC management contributing to tumor eradication by a cytotoxic effect, CT is associated with a poor pharmacokinetic profile and triggers deleterious systemic toxicity. This low efficacy-poor safety scenario urgently calls for innovative and highly specific therapeutic strategies to counteract the urgent clinical challenge. Nanotechnology-based precision materials for cancer may help improve drug stability and minimize the systemic cytotoxic effects by increasing tumor accumulation and enabling controlled release, but several drawbacks still persist, such as the poor targeting efficiency. In the last few years increased attention has been paid to bioinspired nanosystems that can mimic either partially or totally biological systems, including lipid layers as suitable stealth coatings resembling the composition of cell membranes, and cell membrane-derived vesicles, such as exosomes, cell membrane nanovesicles and cell membrane-coated nanosystems which display intrinsic cancer-targeting abilities, enhanced biocompatibility, decreased immunogenicity, and prolonged blood circulation profile. This review covers the recent breakthroughs on advanced biomimetic PC-targeted nanosystems, focusing on their design, properties and applications as innovative, multifunctional and versatile tools paving the way to improved PC diagnosis and treatment.

Celastrol-Loaded Hyaluronic Acid/Cancer Cell Membrane Lipid Nanoparticles for Targeted Hepatocellular Carcinoma Prevention

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and its prevention and treatment face severe challenges. It is crucial to improve the targeting of drugs on tumor cells and tissues. Celastrol (CeT), as an active ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine, possesses strong antitumor effects, especially in triggering apoptosis of HCC. However, due to its toxicity and lack of targeting, its application is greatly limited. HMCLPs, a nano-biomimetic platform carrying CeT with controllable drug release, enhanced targeting, and immunocompatibility, were developed for the first time, which can be used for the treatment of HCC. By utilizing homologous cell membranes and hyaluronic acid (HA), HMCLPs can precisely target tumor regions and release CeT in a controlled manner. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that HMCLPs loaded with CeT significantly increased the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), induced mitochondrial damage, and triggered apoptosis of HCC cells, resulting in effective treatment with minimal adverse reaction. The development of HMCLPs as a nanocarrier system for CeT delivery offers a promising therapeutic strategy for HCC. This innovative approach improves the targeted delivery and bioavailability of CeT, dramatically induces apoptosis in HCC cells, and exerts its powerful antitumor effects while minimizing systemic toxicity. The present study highlights the potential of combining innovative nanocarriers with powerful natural compounds such as CeT to enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity.

Beyond Extracellular Vesicles: Hybrid Membrane Nanovesicles as Emerging Advanced Tools for Biomedical Applications

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), involved in essential physiological and pathological processes of the organism, have emerged as powerful tools for disease treatment owing to their unique natural biological characteristics and artificially acquired advantages. However, the limited targeting ability, insufficient production yield, and low drug-loading capability of natural simplex EVs have greatly hindered their development in clinical translation. Therefore, the establishment of multifunctional hybrid membrane nanovesicles (HMNVs) with favorable adaptability and flexibility has become the key to expanding the practical application of EVs. This timely review summarizes the current progress of HMNVs for biomedical applications. Different HMNVs preparation strategies including physical, chemical, and chimera approaches are first discussed. This review then individually describes the diverse types of HMNVs based on homologous or heterologous cell membrane substances, a fusion of cell membrane and liposome, as well as a fusion of cell membrane and bacterial membrane. Subsequently, a specific emphasis is placed on the highlight of biological applications of the HMNVs toward various diseases with representative examples. Finally, ongoing challenges and prospects of the currently developed HMNVs in clinical translational applications are briefly presented. This review will not only stimulate broad interest among researchers from diverse disciplines but also provide valuable insights for the development of promising nanoplatforms in precision medicine.

Engineered extracellular vesicles-like biomimetic nanoparticles as an emerging platform for targeted cancer therapy

Nanotechnology offers the possibility of revolutionizing cancer theranostics in the new era of precision oncology. Extracellular vesicles (EVs)-like biomimetic nanoparticles (EBPs) have recently emerged as a promising platform for targeted cancer drug delivery. Compared with conventional synthetic vehicles, EBPs have several advantages, such as lower immunogenicity, longer circulation time, and better targeting capability. Studies on EBPs as cancer therapeutics are rapidly progressing from in vitro experiments to in vivo animal models and early-stage clinical trials. Here, we describe engineering strategies to further improve EBPs as effective anticancer drug carriers, including genetic manipulation of original cells, fusion with synthetic nanomaterials, and direct modification of EVs. These engineering approaches can improve the anticancer performance of EBPs, especially in terms of tumor targeting effectiveness, stealth property, drug loading capacity, and integration with other therapeutic modalities. Finally, the current obstacles and future perspectives of engineered EBPs as the next-generation delivery platform for anticancer drugs are discussed.

Intracellular delivery of bacterial effectors for cancer therapy using biodegradable lipid nanoparticles

Bacterial effector proteins are virulence factors that are secreted and mediate orthogonal post-translational modifications of proteins that are not found naturally in mammalian systems. They hold great promise for developing biotherapeutics by regulating malignant cell signaling in a specific and targeted manner. However, delivering bacterial effectors into disease cells poses a significant challenge to their therapeutic potential. In this study, we report on the design of a combinatorial library of bioreducible lipid nanoparticles containing disulfide bonds for highly efficient bacterial effector delivery and potential cancer therapy. A leading lipid, PPPDA-O16B, identified from the library, can encapsulate and deliver DNA plasmids into cells. The gene cargo is released in response to the reductive cellular environment that is upregulated in cancer cells, leading to enhanced gene delivery and protein expression efficiency. Furthermore, we demonstrate that PPPDA-O16B can deliver the bacterial effector protein, DUF5, to degrade mutant RAS and inactivate downstream MAPK signaling cascades to suppress cancer cell growth in vitro and in tumor-bearing mouse xenografts. This strategy of delivering bacterial effectors using biodegradable lipid nanoparticles can be expanded for cancer cell signaling regulation and antitumor studies.

KRAS Mutations in Solid Tumors: Characteristics, Current Therapeutic Strategy, and Potential Treatment Exploration

Kristen rat sarcoma (KRAS) gene is one of the most common mutated oncogenes in solid tumors. Yet, KRAS inhibitors did not follow suit with the development of targeted therapy, for the structure of KRAS has been considered as being implausible to target for decades. Chemotherapy was the initial recommended therapy for KRAS-mutant cancer patients, which was then replaced by or combined with immunotherapy. KRAS G12C inhibitors became the most recent breakthrough in targeted therapy, with Sotorasib being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on its significant efficacy in multiple clinical studies. However, the subtypes of the KRAS mutations are complex, and the development of inhibitors targeting non-G12C subtypes is still at a relatively early stage. In addition, the monotherapy of KRAS inhibitors has accumulated possible resistance, acquiring the exploration of combination therapies or next-generation KRAS inhibitors. Thus, other non-target, conventional therapies have also been considered as being promising. Here in this review, we went through the characteristics of KRAS mutations in cancer patients, and the prognostic effect that it poses on different therapies and advanced therapeutic strategy, as well as cutting-edge research on the mechanisms of drug resistance, tumor development, and the immune microenvironment.

Nano-drug delivery system for pancreatic cancer: A visualization and bibliometric analysis

Background: Nano drug delivery system (NDDS) can significantly improve the delivery and efficacy of drugs against pancreatic cancer (PC) in many ways. The purpose of this study is to explore the related research fields of NDDS for PC from the perspective of bibliometrics. Methods: Articles and reviews on NDDS for PC published between 2003 and 2022 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace, VOSviewer, R-bibliometrix, and Microsoft Excel were comprehensively used for bibliometric and visual analysis. Results: A total of 1329 papers on NDDS for PC were included. The number of papers showed an upward trend over the past 20 years. The United States contributed the most papers, followed by China, and India. Also, the United States had the highest number of total citations and H-index. The institution with the most papers was Chinese Acad Sci, which was also the most important in international institutional cooperation. Professors Couvreur P and Kazuoka K made great achievements in this field. JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE published the most papers and was cited the most. The topics related to the tumor microenvironment such as "tumor microenvironment", "tumor penetration", "hypoxia", "exosome", and "autophagy", PC treatment-related topics such as "immunotherapy", "combination therapy", "alternating magnetic field/magnetic hyperthermia", and "ultrasound", and gene therapy dominated by "siRNA" and "miRNA" were the research hotspots in the field of NDDS for PC. Conclusion: This study systematically uncovered a holistic picture of the performance of NDDS for PC-related literature over the past 20 years. We provided scholars to understand key information in this field with the perspective of bibliometrics, which we believe may greatly facilitate future research in this field.

Exosome-Mediated Therapeutic Strategies for Management of Solid and Hematological Malignancies

Exosomes are small membrane vesicles of endocytic origin containing cytokines, RNAs, growth factors, proteins, lipids, and metabolites. They have been identified as fundamental intercellular communication controllers in several diseases and an enormous volume of data confirmed that exosomes could either sustain or inhibit tumor onset and diffusion in diverse solid and hematological malignancies by paracrine signaling. Thus, exosomes might constitute a promising cell-free tumor treatment alternative. This review focuses on the effects of exosomes in the treatment of tumors, by discussing the most recent and promising data from in vitro and experimental in vivo studies and the few existing clinical trials. Exosomes are extremely promising as transporters of drugs, antagomir, genes, and other therapeutic substances that can be integrated into their core via different procedures. Moreover, exosomes can augment or inhibit non-coding RNAs, change the metabolism of cancer cells, and modify the function of immunologic effectors thus modifying the tumor microenvironment transforming it from pro-tumor to antitumor milieu. Here, we report the development of currently realized exosome modifiers that offer indications for the forthcoming elaboration of other more effective methods capable of enhancing the activity of the exosomes.