Cell-Mediated Nanoparticle Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy

Cell-mediated nanoparticle drug delivery harnesses the innate trafficking and homing capabilities of living cells to transport therapeutic cargos directly to malignant tissues. By loading nanoparticles into or onto immune cells, platelets or other circulating carriers, this strategy surmounts many physiological barriers that impede free nanoparticles, including rapid clearance by the mononuclear phagocyte system, poor extravasation and limited tumour penetration. Cells such as neutrophils and macrophages naturally infiltrate inflammatory tumour microenvironments, while platelets and T cells respond to tumour-associated signals. Once loaded with chemotherapeutic agents, imaging markers or combination payloads, these cellular vehicles shield nanoparticles from degradation, improve biodistribution and enable stimuli-responsive release at the disease site. Recent advances have focused on engineering cell–nanoparticle interfaces to control loading, preserve cell viability and trigger cargo detachment in response to local cues such as pH or inflammatory mediators. The result is heightened specificity, reduced systemic toxicity and the potential to integrate therapy with in vivo tracking, paving the way for more precise and effective cancer treatments worldwide.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated that bacterial-mimetic nanoparticles can exploit circulating neutrophils to achieve complete tumour eradication when combined with photothermal therapy. By cloaking cisplatin-loaded carriers in pathogen-associated molecular patterns, these nano-pathogenoids are preferentially internalised by neutrophils, which then migrate to inflamed tumours and release their cargo in situ. In parallel, engineered neutrophils loaded with magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles have been deployed to target residual glioma cells after surgical resection; the particles enable magnetic resonance imaging to track cell migration and significantly delay tumour relapse. Another approach employs native platelets as biocompatible delivery vehicles: doxorubicin-loaded platelets aggregate in the vasculature of lymphoma and release their payload in an acidic microenvironment, boosting anti-tumour efficacy while sparing cardiac tissue.

Cell-Mediated Nanoparticle Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in cell-mediated nanoparticle drug delivery in cancer therapy across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Phagocyte: A type of immune cell capable of engulfing and transporting foreign particles or pathogens.
Homing: Directed migration of cells towards specific tissues or microenvironments.
Photothermal therapy (PTT): Treatment that uses light-absorbing agents to generate localized heat and destroy cancer cells.
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles: Nanoparticles containing ordered pore structures for high-capacity drug loading.
Enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect: Passive accumulation of nanoparticles in tumour tissue due to leaky tumour vasculature.

References

1. Chemotaxis-driven delivery of nano-pathogenoids for complete eradication of tumors post-phototherapy. Nature Communications (2020).
2. MR imaging tracking of inflammation-activatable engineered neutrophils for targeted therapy of surgically treated glioma. Nature Communications (2018).
3. Cell-mediated targeting drugs delivery systems. Drug Delivery (2020).
4. Doxorubicin-loaded platelets as a smart drug delivery system: An improved therapy for lymphoma. Scientific Reports (2017).
5. Primary M1 macrophages as multifunctional carrier combined with PLGA nanoparticle delivering anticancer drug for efficient glioma therapy. Drug Delivery (2018).
6. Tumor Targeting by αvβ3‑Integrin-Specific Lipid Nanoparticles Occurs via Phagocyte Hitchhiking. ACS Nano (2020).
7. A novel macrophage-mediated biomimetic delivery system with NIR-triggered release for prostate cancer therapy. Journal of Nanobiotechnology (2019).