RBC Membrane-coated Nanoparticles: A Comprehensive Review on the Preparation Methods, Characterisations and Applications

Natural cells have become an area of interest due to their biocompatibility, non-immunogenicity, biodegradability, and targeting specificity. The human vascular system retains distinctive physiological features that can be developed for enhanced and effective targeted drug delivery. Red blood cells (RBCs) have unique features and properties that make them potential natural carriers for numerous substances. Recently, the RBC membrane has become a unique biological carrier and it has been extensively studied due to its long-circulating half-life, low toxicity, high stability and the ability to transport various biologically active substances with higher drug release efficiency. Among the benefits of the RBC membrane as a drug delivery carrier in medical and biological fields is the use of this system in anticancer therapy. Antitumor drugs are loaded in gold NP, magnetic NPs, or mesoporous silica NPs. Then, the loaded NP is used as a core and coated with an RBC membrane to protect the NP from immune attack and enhance drug targeting. Moreover, RBCs have been used for encapsulating different enzymes to overcome the undesirable outcomes associated with enzyme replacement therapy. This review highlighted the most recent RBC membrane preparation methods, such as Membrane coating technology and Osmotic Loading Procedures. The recent advances in the design of RBC membrane carriers and discuss the applications of RBCs in different fields such as therapeutic enzymes, immunotherapy and anti-tumour therapy. Given the potential risks and challenges in the development of any treatment protocol, this review elucidated the problematic aspects and prospects, describing new modalities to overcome these problems. RBCs as a drug carriers are among the most interesting topics as a novel drug delivery system as they are convenient, effective, safer, biocompatible and have good properties to deliver and administrate the drug specifically to the target site of action with fewer side effects and interference with therapeutic aspects.