REVIEW article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Cell and Gene Therapy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1663092
Biomimetic Erythrocyte-Based Drug Delivery Systems for Organ-Targeted Therapy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, China
- 2West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Enhancing drug accumulation in target organs while minimizing adverse effects is critical for pharmacological therapies. Therefore, the development of advanced drug-targeting platforms is essential for clinical application. These systems must not only enable precise organ-specific targeting but also improve drug bioavailability and extend systemic circulation. In recent years, significant progress has been made in blood cell-inspired drug delivery strategies, with red blood cells-based (RBCs-based) platforms showing particular promise due to their inherent physiological advantages. Nevertheless, the development of organ-specific RBCs-mediated delivery systems remains challenging. We categorize and summarize various drug loading methods for existing RBCs, along with their advantages, disadvantages, and treated disease types. We then focus on describing various design strategies of RBCs-based delivery systems targeting specific organs and review their current applications. Additionally, we discuss current challenges and future perspectives regarding RBCs-based targeted delivery platforms.
Keywords: Red blood cells(RBCs), Organ targeting, Drug delivery system (DDS), cell therapeutic, Cell drug delivery
Received: 10 Jul 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Huang, Li and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ke Zhang, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.