Based on these advantages, a wide variety of cell types including red blood cells (RBCs), platelets, white blood cells, cancer cells, stem cells and even bacteria, have been employed as sources of cell membranes to coat synthetic NPs 6, 7. Specifically, cell membrane-coated NPs inherently mimic the surface properties of the source cells and thus acquire many unique characteristics, such as superior biocompatibility, decreased uptake by macrophage cells, prolonged circulation lifetimes, and enhanced tumor penetration 2, 3, 4, 5. This quantitative method and the fundamental understanding of how cell membrane coated NPs enter the cells will enhance the rational designing of biomimetic nanosystems and pave the way for more effective cancer nanomedicine.Ĭell membrane coating has been introduced as an advanced process that adopts a simple top-down approach for functionalizing synthetic nanoparticles (NPs) with the complex functionalities associated with natural cell membranes 1. We unravel that NPs with a high coating degree (≥50%) enter the cells individually, whereas the NPs with a low coating degree (<50%) need to aggregate together before internalization.
By combining molecular simulations with experimental analysis, we further identify an endocytic entry mechanism for these NPs. Using in vitro homologous targeting studies, we demonstrate that partially coated NPs could still be internalized by the target cells. In contradiction to the common assumption of perfect coating, we uncover that up to 90% of the biomimetic NPs are only partially coated. Here, we report a fluorescence quenching assay to probe the integrity of cell membrane coating.
However, the integrity of the cell membrane coating on NPs, a key metrics related to the quality of these biomimetic-systems and their resulting biomedical function, has remained largely unexplored.
Cell membrane coated nanoparticles (NPs) have recently been recognized as attractive nanomedical tools because of their unique properties such as immune escape, long blood circulation time, specific molecular recognition and cell targeting.
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