SAN DIEGO, June 20 (UPI) -- Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells will evade the body's immune system and deliver cancer-fighting drugs straight to a tumor, U.S. researchers say.
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, say they're developing a method that involves taking the membrane from a red blood cell and wrapping it like a camouflaging cloak around a biodegradable polymer nanoparticle loaded with a cocktail of small molecule drugs.
Being able to deliver multiple drugs in a single nanoparticle is important because cancer cells can develop a resistance to drugs delivered individually, they said.
Researchers say such drug-carrying vehicles can live and circulate in the body for extended periods without being attacked by the immune system.
Red blood cells live in the body for up to 180 days and, as such, are "nature's long-circulation delivery vehicle," said Che-Ming Hu, a UCSD Ph.D. candidate in bioengineering and a co-author of the study.
Scientists have long sought drug delivery systems that mimic the body's natural behavior for more effective drug delivery.
"This is the first work that combines the natural cell membrane with a synthetic nanoparticle for drug delivery applications," study leader Liangfang Zhang, a UCSD nanoeningeering professor, said. "This nanoparticle platform will have little risk of immune response."
