Biocompatible Red Blood Membrane-Carbon Dot Hybrids for Near-Infrared Imaging-Guided Chemotherapy

The hydrophobicity has been known as a pivotal factor limiting the therapeutic capacity of cancer drugs. Biocompatible nanocarriers as a potential platform for drug delivery can increase the solubility of hydrophobic drugs and prolong drug half-life, therefore improving therapeutic efficacies. Herein, we use the treated red blood cell membrane (RBM) as a nanocarrier to delivery hydrophobic carbon dot and paclitaxel (RBM-CD–PTX) for imaging-guided chemotherapy. The CD in RBM-CD with good biosafety endows them with excellent optical properties for fluorescent imaging from visible light to near-infrared light in cellular and animal models. The RBM-CD exhibited a high PTX loading capacity (loading capacity, 30.23%). The RBM-CD–PTX can be easily delivered and efficiently accumulated in tumor tissues, releasing PTX molecules to inhibit tumor growth. Such a nanoplatform manifests great potential to deliver clinical reagents for imaging-guided cancer therapy.