Synthetic Biology-Based Engineering Cells for Drug Delivery

Abstract

Although drug delivery technology has promoted the clinical translation of small molecule drugs, there is an urgent need for advanced delivery systems to overcome complex physiological barriers and the increasing development of biological drugs. This review overviews the emerging applications of synthetic biology-based engineered cells for drug delivery. We first introduce synthetic biology strategies to engineer cells for biological drug delivery and discuss the benefits in terms of specificity, intelligence, and controllability. Furthermore, we highlight the cutting-edge advancements at the convergence of synthetic biology and nanotechnology in drug delivery. Nanotechnology expands the engineering design and construction concepts of synthetic biology, and synthetic biology drives the development for biotechnology-driven nanomaterial synthesis. In the future, synthetic biology-based engineered cells may be developed to be more modular, standardized, and intelligent, leading to significant breakthroughs in the construction of advanced drug delivery systems.