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Engineering platelet-mimicking drug delivery vehicles

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Abstract

Platelets dynamically participate in various physiological processes, including wound repair, bacterial clearance, immune response, and tumor metastasis. Recreating the specific biological features of platelets by mimicking the structure of the platelet or translocating the platelet membrane to synthetic particles holds great promise in disease treatment. This review highlights recent advancements made in the platelet-mimicking strategies. The future opportunities and translational challenges are also discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the grants from NC TraCS, NIH’s Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA, NIH grant 1UL1TR001111) at UNC-CH, Sloan Fellowship Award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the startup package from the Joint Biomedical Engineering Department of the UNC-CH and NC State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Quanyin Hu, Hunter N. Bomba & Zhen Gu

  2. Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Quanyin Hu, Hunter N. Bomba & Zhen Gu

  3. Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Zhen Gu

Authors
  1. Quanyin Hu
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  2. Hunter N. Bomba
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  3. Zhen Gu
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Correspondence to Zhen Gu.

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Zhen Gu obtained his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles, under the guidance of Professor Yi Tang in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He was a postdoctoral associate working with Professor Robert Langer at MIT and Harvard Medical School. He is currently an associate professor in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. He also holds a joint position in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Department of Medicine at UNC. His group studies controlled drug delivery, bioinspired materials, and nanobiotechnology, especially for cancer and diabetes treatment.

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Hu, Q., Bomba, H.N. & Gu, Z. Engineering platelet-mimicking drug delivery vehicles. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 11, 624–632 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-017-1614-6

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