Microfluidics-Prepared Ultra-small Biomimetic Nanovesicles for Brain Tumor Targeting

Blood-brain-barrier (BBB) serves as a fatal guard of the central nervous system as well as a formidable obstacle for the treatment of brain diseases such as brain tumors. Cell membrane-derived nanomedicines are promising drug carriers to achieve BBB-penetrating and brain lesion targeting. However, the challenge of precise size control of such nanomedicines has severely limited their therapeutic effect and clinical application in brain diseases. To address this problem, this work develops a microfluidic mixing platform that enables the fabrication of cell membrane-derived nanovesicles with precise controllability and tunability in particle size and component. Sub-100 nm macrophage plasma membrane-derived vesicles as small as 51 nm (nanoscale macrophage vesicles, NMVs), with a narrow size distribution (polydispersity index, PDI: 0.27) and a high drug loading rate (up to 89% for indocyanine green-loaded NMVs, NMVs@ICG (ICG is indocyanine green)), are achieved through a one-step process. Compared to beyond-100 nm macrophage cell membrane vesicles (general macrophage vesicles, GMVs) prepared via the traditional methods, the new NMVs exhibits rapid (within 1 h post-injection) and enhanced orthotopic glioma targeting (up to 78% enhancement), with no extra surface modification. This work demonstrates the great potential of such real-nanoscale cell membrane-derived nanomedicines in targeted brain tumor theranostics.

TNF-R1 Cellular Nanovesicles Loaded on the Thermosensitive F-127 Hydrogel Enhance the Repair of Scalded Skin

Excessive inflammatory response after severe scalding is an important cause of delayed wound healing and is even life-threatening. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) is a key pro-inflammatory factor of skin trauma. Interacting with tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNF-R1), TNF-α causes excessive inflammation and poor prognosis by activating NF-κB pathway. Antagonizing high levels of TNF-α is one of the therapeutic approaches for diseases associated with the overactivation of inflammatory responses. However, the available monoclonal antibodies are limited in their application due to their complex preparation process, high price, and the lack of cell targeting ability leading to systemic toxicity and side effects. In this study, by using a genetic bioengineering technique, we modified TNF-R1 on the cell membrane surface-derived nanovesicles (NVs). We confirmed that TNF-R1 NVs stably expressed TNF-R1 on the membrane surface and interacted with its ligand TNF-α. Furthermore, TNF-R1 NVs competitively antagonized the effect of TNF-α in the wound healing assay in vitro. In the scalded mouse model, TNF-R1 NVs were released continuously from the thermosensitive hydrogel Pluronic F-127, resulting in less inflammation and better wound healing. Our results revealed TNF-R1 NVs as promising cell-free therapeutic agents in alleviating TNF-α-mediated pro-inflammatory signaling and promoting wound repair.

Engineered Cell Membrane Vesicles Expressing CD40 Alleviate System Lupus Nephritis by Intervening B Cell Activation

Immune intervention of B cell activation to blockade the production of autoantibodies provokes intense interest in the field of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) therapy development. Although the survival rate for SLE is improved, many patients die untimely. Engineered cell membrane vesicles manifest remarkable capacity of targeted drug delivery and immunomodulation of immune cells such as B cells. Herein, this work engineered cellular nanovesicles (NVs) presenting CD40 (CD40 NVs) that can blunt B cells and thus alleviate SLE. CD40 NVs disrupt the CD40/CD40 ligand (CD40L) costimulatory signal axis through the blockade of CD40L on CD4⁺ T cells. Therefore, the CD40 NVs restrain the generation of the germinal center structure and production of antibodies from B cells. Furthermore, immunosuppressive drug mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is also encapsulated in the vesicles (MMF-CD40 NVs), which is employed to deplete immunocytes including B cells, T cells, and dendritic cells. Together, CD40 NVs are promising formulations for relieving autoimmunity and lupus nephritis in MRL/lpr mice.