Resealed erythrocyte-based drug delivery

Erythrocytes are natural blood cells circulating the whole body. They have been postulated and extensively exploited as natural carriers of therapeutic agents. The encapsulation of various drugs can be achieved craftly through one of the well-established encapsulation techniques. Sustained drug release and delivery to the reticuloendothelial system (RES) are among the main reasons for the erythrocytes’ recruitment in drug delivery. Additionally, they confer the surface targeting possibility and thus mitigating the off-target accumulation of the drugs and consequently ameliorate the therapeutic outcome of the encapsulated bioactive agent. Due to this malleable tailor ability, several drugs, proteins, and DNA fragments were encapsulated inside targeting agent–decorated erythrocytes. Moreover, some erythrocytes were designed to provide theranostic structures.