Using Mesoporous Silica-Based Dual Biomimetic Nano-Erythrocytes for an Improved Antitumor Effect

• Published in: Pharmaceutics Vol. 15; no. 12; p. 2785
• Main Authors: Xi, Ziyue, Jiang, Yingying, Ma, Zitong, Li, Qun, Xi, Xinran, Fan, Chuanyong, Zhu, Shuang, Zhang, Junjie, Xu, Lu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.12.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Adsorption; antitumor; Biocompatibility; biomimetic; Biomimetics; Calcium phosphates; Chemotherapy; Drug delivery systems; Drugs; erythrocyte membrane; erythrocyte-like nanoparticles; Ethanol; Membranes; Nanoparticles; pH-sensitivity; Polyethylene glycol; Reagents; Silica; Surfactants; Vehicles; China; erythrocyte-like nanoparticles; pH-sensitivity; antitumor; erythrocyte membrane; biomimetic
• ISSN: 1999-4923; 1999-4923
• DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15122785

The nano-delivery system with a dual biomimetic effect can penetrate deeper in tumor microenvironments (TMEs) and release sufficient antitumor drugs, which has attracted much attention. In this study, we synthesized erythrocyte-like mesoporous silica nanoparticles (EMSNs) as the core loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) and coated them with calcium phosphate (CaP) and erythrocyte membrane (EM) to obtain DOX/EsPMs. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fluorescent co-localization and protein bands of SDS-PAGE were used to confirm the complete fabrication of EsPMs. The EsPMs with erythrocyte-like shape exhibited superior penetration ability in in vitro diffusion and tumor-sphere penetration experiments. Intracellular Ca2+ and ROS detection experiments showed that the CaP membranes of EsPMs with pH-sensitivity could provide Ca2+ continuously to induce reactive oxide species’ (ROS) generation in the TME. The EM as a perfect “camouflaged clothing” which could confuse macrophagocytes into prolonging blood circulation. Hemolysis and non-specific protein adsorption tests proved the desirable biocompatibility of EsPMs. An in vivo pharmacodynamics evaluation showed that the DOX/EsPMs group had a satisfactory tumor-inhibition effect. These advantages of the nano-erythrocytes suggest that by modifying the existing materials to construct a nano-delivery system, nanoparticles will achieve a biomimetic effect from both their structure and function with a facilitated and sufficient drug release profile, which is of great significance for antitumor therapy.