Techniques using nanotechnology in the detection and treatment of cancers have made great progress in multidisciplinary fields. The advances in drug delivery systems (DDSs) have been supported mainly by the development of varied nanoparticles (NPs). Although the NPs based on organic and inorganic materials are integral parts in DDSs, bio-nanoparticles containing biopolymer and virus-like particles (VLPs) are attractive biomaterials for DDSs because of their unique features originating in bio-based materials, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and low immunogenicity. It is notable that these NPs additionally have a great advantage to enable the easy and flexible alteration of their features by genetic engineering approaches. Controlling the sequence and oligomeric process of polypeptide genes permits a variety of choices in type or size of biopolymeric NPs (e.g., elastin-like polypeptide NPs). In contrast, the functional genes are often inserted into the coding sequences for self-assembled proteins to give the VLPs (e.g., hemagglutinating virus of Japan, adeno-associated virus, human immunodeficiency virus-1, simian virus 40 and hepatitis B virus) additional functions. Thus, genetic engineering readily allow alterations of the properties of NPs (e.g., particle shape, size and stability) and grant of new abilities (e.g., cell-specificity and drug loading and release). In this review, we introduce recent advances in bio-nanoparticles from the standpoint of engineering.