title: Erythrocyte Membrane-Coated Upconversion Nanoparticles with Minimal Protein Adsorption for Enhanced Tumor Imaging.
abstract: Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with superior optical and chemical features have been broadly employed for in vivo cancer imaging. Generally, UCNPs are surface modified with ligands for cancer active targeting. However, nanoparticles in biological fluids are known to form a long-lived "protein corona", which covers the targeting ligands on nanoparticle surface and dramatically reduces the nanoparticle targeting capabilities. Here, for the first time, we demonstrated that by coating UCNPs with red blood cell (RBC) membranes, the resulting cell membrane-capped nanoparticles (RBC-UCNPs) adsorbed virtually no proteins when exposed to human plasma. We further observed in various scenarios that the cancer targeting ability of folic acid (FA)-functionalized nanoparticles (FA-RBC-UCNPs) was rescued by the cell membrane coating. Next, the FA-RBC-UCNPs were successfully utilized for enhanced in vivo tumor imaging. Finally, blood parameters and histology analysis suggested that no significant systematic toxicity was induced by the injection of biomimetic nanoparticles. Our method provides a new angle on the design of targeted nanoparticles for biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Lang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Qian-Fang
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Lin-Lin
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Qinqin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Zhi-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Wen-Feng
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Shi-Shang
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4789-362X
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Tza-Huei
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology and ‡Department of Oral Maxillofacial Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University , Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and ⊥Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Xing-Zhong
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane; D005492:Folic Acid; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles; D009369:Neoplasms
chemical_list: D005492:Folic Acid
keywords: cancer targeting; diagnosis and therapy; drug delivery; protein corona; red blood cell membrane; upconversion nanoparticle