Development of ligand modified erythrocyte coated polydopamine nanomedicine to codeliver chemotherapeutic agent and oxygen for chemo-photothermal synergistic cancer therapy

The use of conventional chemotherapy often faces limitations such as severe side effects, weak tumor tissue specificity, and the development of multidrug resistance. To conquer these challenges, numerous novel drug carriers have been designed in recent years. However, due to the complex processes of tumor development, metastasis and recurrence, single chemotherapy cannot fulfill the goals of clinical diverse treatment. In this work, by utilizing the inherent characteristics of surface-modified erythrocyte and the outstanding photothermal conversion capability of polydopamine (PDA), we designed and constructed a biomimetic multifunctional nanomedicine DPPR NPs to codeliver chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin (DOX) and oxygen. The results showed that DPPR NPs exhibited inspiring features including nanoscale droplet size, good physicochemical stability, and sustained, pH-, and NIR triggered drug release behavior. It can dramatically prolong the systematic circulation time and elevated the drug accumulated level in the tumor site. Moreover, DPPR NPs could be effectively internalized into tumor cells and destroyed the intracellular redox balance to mediate cell apoptosis. It exerted excellent in vivo tumor targeting effect, photothermal conversion efficiency, ultrasound imaging responses, antitumor efficacy, and good compatibility. In summary, DPPR NPs provide a biomimetic drug delivery platform to organically combine chemotherapy and photothermal therapy for precise cancer treatment.