Cell membrane-engineered nanoparticles: A bionic platform for targeted cancer therapy

Cancer remains one of the most challenging diseases for targeted drug delivery despite the advancements in conventional as well as cutting-edge treatments. In recent years, rapid progress has been made in the field of nanomedicine, offering novel strategies, holding the potential to transform healthcare by enhancing bioavailability, efficacy and safety. Notably, the targeting ability of these nanotherapeutic drug delivery systems has been refined by tailoring nanoscale properties and modified surface features, furnishing an alternative approach to tumour-targeted therapy. However, current nanocarrier systems still suffer from unexpected off-target effects, immune clearance, and limited penetration into several biological barriers, including the blood-brain barrier and tumour microenvironment. To address these barriers, the biomimicking approach has come into existence, especially nanoparticles cloaked within the biological cell membranes, which mimic the natural cell function, enabling enhanced circulation half-life, more efficient interaction with the tumour microenvironment and immune evasion. Besides such vast advantages, these biomimicking nanoparticles face ongoing challenges including manufacturing scalability, potential immunogenicity and regulatory clearance for bench to bedside use. This review discusses the recent advancements and limitations of the biomimicking nanocarriers-based drug delivery systems for cancer treatment, especially focused on the cell membrane-coated nanocarriers, covering their types, fabrication methods, sources, and present challenges and their applications in cancer treatments. Overall, the current review offers a roadmap for future research in biomimicking nanoparticles and their clinical implementation.