Docetaxel-loaded biomimetic nanoparticles for targeted lung cancer therapy in vivo

Although the nanodrug-loading system provides new ideas for the effective treatment of cancer, the lack of active cancer targeting, easy to be cleared by the reticuloendothelial system (RES), and may cause potential safety issues are still problems that needs urgent solution. Herein, the authors fabricated platelet membrane (PM)-coated docetaxel (DTX)-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles (PM/PLGA/DTX) that possessed unique advantages for satisfactory lung cancer therapy. The resulting core–shell nanoplatform exhibited proper size (hydrodynamic diameter was 98.2 nm) for the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, slowed down the release of loaded DTX, and effectively suppressed the growth of tumor cells in vitro. More importantly, due to the immune escape and cancer-targeting capacities of PM, the PM/PLGA/DTX showed long circulation and effective lung tumor-targeting ability. After administration in vivo antitumor activity, the PM/PLGA/DTX significantly inhibited the tumor growth of A549 cell-bearing nude mice. In addition, the PM/PLGA/DTX strongly reduced the DTX toxicity compared with that of free DTX. Therefore, the results here demonstrated this biomimetic nanoparticle is a promising nanosized drug delivery system for targeted lung cancer therapy.