Self-Assembly of Extracellular Vesicle-like Metal–Organic Framework Nanoparticles for Protection and Intracellular Delivery of Biofunctional Proteins

Abstract

The intracellular delivery of biofunctional enzymes or therapeutic proteins through systemic administration is of great importance in therapeutic intervention of various diseases. However, current strategies face substantial challenges owing to various biological barriers, including susceptibility to protein degradation and denaturation, poor cellular uptake, and low transduction efficiency into the cytosol. Here, we developed a biomimetic nanoparticle platform for systemic and intracellular delivery of proteins. Through a biocompatible strategy, guest proteins are caged in the matrix of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with high efficiency (up to ∼94%) and high loading content up to ∼50 times those achieved by surface conjunction, and the nanoparticles were further decorated with the extracellular vesicle (EV) membrane with an efficiency as high as ∼97%. In vitro and in vivo study manifests that the EV-like nanoparticles can not only protect proteins against protease digestion and evade the immune system clearance but also selectively target homotypic tumor sites and promote tumor cell uptake and autonomous release of the guest protein after internalization. Assisted by biomimetic nanoparticles, intracellular delivery of the bioactive therapeutic protein gelonin significantly inhibits the tumor growth in vivo and increased 14-fold the therapeutic efficacy. Together, our work not only proposes a new concept to construct a biomimetic nanoplatform but also provides a new solution for systemic and intracellular delivery of protein.