Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease underlying a cascade of chronic inflammatory processes. Over the past decades, the response rate of effective RA treatments has remained scarce despite numerous advancements in the current therapeutic interventions, owing largely to the associated off-target adverse events and poor accumulation in the inflamed joints. Recently, there is a high interest in the development of targeted drug delivery system by using nanotechnology, as it can provide a handle to improve the therapy efficacy of RA. Here, multifunctional HA@RFM@PB@SE nanoparticles (HRPS NPs) are developed by loading schisanlactone E (SE, also called with xuetongsu), an anti-RA compound isolated from Tujia ethnomedicine xuetong, into Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) and further camouflage of RBC-RAFLS hybrid membrane with HA modification onto PB@SE NPs (PS NPs). We demonstrated that the modification of RFM makes PB NPs ideal decoys for targeting inflammatory mediators of arthritis due to the homing effects of the parental cells. Moreover, the encapsulation of RFM on the PB@SE NPs extended the blood circulation time and improved its targeting ability, which accordingly achieved optimal accumulation of SE in arthritic rat paws. In vitro and in vivo assay demonstrated the outstanding performance of HRPS NPs for synergistic chemo-/photothermal therapy of RA without side effects to healthy tissues. Molecular mechanism exploration indicated that the ultrastrong inhibition of synovial hyperplasia and bone destruction was partly via suppressing NF-κB signaling pathway and the expression of matrix metalloproteinases. In summary, the nanodrug delivery system showed controllable release behavior, targeted accumulation at arthritic sites and systemic regulation of immunity, hence improved therapeutic efficacy and clinical outcomes of the disease without attenuating safety.
Keywords: biomimetic hybrid membrane; photothermal therapy; prussian blue nanoparticles; rheumatoid arthritis; targeted delivery; xuetongsu.