Resealed erythrocytes: Towards a novel approach for anticancer therapy

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in the history of mankind, accounting for almost 10 million deaths per year. Even though significant advances in chemotherapy have been made however many challenges need the attention of scientists for providing a safe and economic treatment. As a result, oncological science is focusing on developing innovative and effective pharmacotherapy such as targeted therapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, laser therapy, RNA interference therapy, nanoparticles, and biocarrier therapeutics that can mitigate serious side effects induced by traditional treatments. Targeted drug delivery is one approach in which the drug is concentrated selectively at a particular tissue and is able to deliver cytotoxic drugs safely and effectively by making use of various carriers such as lipidic nanocarriers, metallic nanoparticles, liposomes, niosomes, and cellular carriers. Resealed erythrocytes have emerged as one of the most effective biocarriers studied recently because of their easy preparation and drug loading, biodegradability, and possess long circulation half-life. This article gives an insight on the source and isolation of erythrocytes, merits and demerits of using erythrocytes as a carrier, methods of drug encapsulation and release kinetics, and storage methods of red blood cells with special attention on using resealed erythrocytes as carriers for anti-tumor drugs.