Biomimetic nano drug delivery carriers for treating cardiovascular diseases

• Why do we need biomimicry? Which challenges does it aim to overcome? • Systemic delivery of free drugs has limitations. These limitations include rapid systemic clearance, inadequate levels of drug in the target tissue, poor solubility of some drugs, and increased off target toxicity. • Much effort has been invested into the development of different synthetic drug carriers. However, biomimetic carrier systems, inspired by the way different cells in our body behave, hold great therapeutic potential in addressing these challenges. • Several types of cells that interact with the vascular system, including erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes, have inspired the design of new biomimetic carriers. • Inspired by native cells' biological functions, biomimetic nano-carrier platforms possess favorable properties such as: longer circulation times, mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) evasion, and favorable interactions with target cells. Native cells and their inherent functional moieties, which allow the native cells to evade the biological barriers and reach the target. All the proteins in this figure are membrane proteins and were placed inside the cells only for visualization.