Engineering polymer nanoparticles using cell membrane coating technology and their application in cancer treatments: Opportunities and challenges

Nanotechnology has revolutionized cancer drug delivery, and recent research continues to focus on the development of “one-size- fits-all,” i.e., “all-in-one” delivery nanovehicles. Although nanomedicines can address significant shortcomings of conventional therapy, biological barriers remain a challenge in their delivery and accumulation at diseased sites. To achieve long circulation time, immune evasion, and targeted accumulation, conventional nanocarriers need modifications, e.g., PEGylation, peptide/aptamer attachment, etc. One such modification is a biomimetic coating using cell membrane (CM), which can offer long circulation or targeting, or both. This top-down CM coating process is facile and can provide some advantageous features over surface modification by synthetic polymers. Herein, an overview is provided on the engineering of CM camouflaged polymer nanoparticles. A short section on CM and the development of CM coating technology has been provided. Detailed description of the preparation and characterization of CM camouflaged polymer NPs and their applications in cancer treatment has been reported. A brief comparison between CM coating and PEGylation has been highlighted. Various targeting approaches to achieve tumor-specific delivery of CM coated NPs have been summarized here. Overall, this review will give the readers a nice picture of CM coated polymer NPs, along with their opportunities and challenges.