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Nanotechnology

Platelet mimicry

Nature volume 526, pages 47–48 (2015)Cite this article

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Cloaking drug-loaded nanoparticles with platelet membranes enhances the drugs' abilities to target desired cells and tissues. This technology might improve treatments for cardiovascular and infectious diseases. See Letter p.118

The development of nanoparticles that can carry drugs to target sites in the body promises safer and more-effective drug delivery to solve myriad medical problems. It has proved difficult to create the complex exterior surface that allows these nanocarriers to undergo 'normal' biological interactions1,2, but, by turning to nature for design cues, scientists have begun to develop such biomimetic nanoparticles3,4. On page 118 of this issue, Hu et al.5 report that nanoparticles coated with the membrane of blood platelets are shielded from the body's immune responses, and possess platelet-like binding properties that allow them to target desired cells and tissues. Alongside broad therapeutic implications, the study blurs the line between materials science and biochemistry, introducing techniques that could benefit both nanoengineering and biomembrane research.

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Figure 1: Designing nanocarriers.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Omid C. Farokhzad is in the Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.,

    Omid C. Farokhzad

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  1. Omid C. Farokhzad
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Correspondence to Omid C. Farokhzad.

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Farokhzad, O. Platelet mimicry. Nature 526, 47–48 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15218

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