Remotely Controlled Red Blood Cell Carriers for Cancer Targeting and Near-Infrared Light-Triggered Drug Release in Combined Photothermal-Chemotherapy

Red blood cells (RBCs), the innate carriers in blood vessels, are gifted with many unique advantages in drug transportation over synthetic drug delivery systems (DDSs). Herein, a tumor angiogenesis targeting, light stimulus-responsive, RBC-based DDS is developed by incorporating various functional components within the RBC platform. An albumin bound near-infrared (NIR) dye, together with a chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, is encapsulated inside RBCs, the surfaces of which are modified with a targeting peptide to allow cancer targeting. Under stimulation by an external NIR laser, the membrane of the RBCs would be destroyed by the light-induced photothermal heating, resulting in effective drug release. As a proof of principle, RBC-based cancer cell targeted drug delivery and light-controlled drug release is demonstrated in vitro, achieving a marked synergistic therapeutic effect through the combined photothermal-chemotherapy. This work presents a novel design of smart RBC carriers, which are inherently biocompatible, promising for targeted combination therapy of cancer.