A Programmed Cell-Mimicking Nanoparticle Driven by Potato Alkaloid for Targeted Cancer Chemoimmunotherapy

Membrane camouflaged-nanoparticles (CM-NPs) have been exploited to inherit desired functionalities from source cells. Despite those advantages, membrane cloak may play a double-edged sword role in tumor-targeting therapy, as the intact membrane coating may hinder function-exertion of loaded drugs after reaching predetermined site. Therefore, further optimization of CM-NPs is still needed to enhance their delivery efficiency. Herein, natural product, Solamargine (SM), a cholesterol-affiliative amphiphilic potato alkaloid is first applied as core component of inner core, to design a cell-mimicking core-shell nanoparticle (RBC-SLip) with acid-responsive off-coating properties for tumor-targeted therapy. Owing to red blood cell membrane (RBCm)-derived outer coating, it circulates stably in physiological conditions. While it would undergo an off-coating morphological change in response to acid stimuli in tumor microenvironment (TME), afterwards, the resulting off-coating liposome (SLip) shows active tumor-targeting and endosomal escape abilities, thus contributing to superior antitumor efficacy. In addition, SM also possesses natural TME-modulating ability; therefore, RBC-SLip can synergize with the PD1/PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy when encapsulated with PTX to achieve enhanced chemoimmunotherapy. The off-coating strategy developed by natural products SM, provide a brand-new perspective to optimize CM-NPs, and it also embodies application value of unification of medicines and excipients of natural products.

Automated summary

The study introduced the use of natural product Solamargine to design cell-mimicking core-shell nanoparticles with acid-responsive off-coating properties, which showed superior antitumor efficacy in tumor-targeted therapy. This off-coating strategy provides a new perspective for optimizing CM-NPs and highlights the application value of natural product medicines and excipients.