Engineered cell-biomimetic nanosystems for anti-inflammatory therapy: targeting, neutralization and immunomodulation

Inflammation is a complex and dynamic immune response triggered by tissue injury or pathogen invasion, playing a critical role in restoring tissue homeostasis. However, excessive inflammation can lead to tissue damage and exacerbate the progression of various diseases. Issues such as off-target effects and insufficient dynamic regulation pose key challenges to precise modulation of complex inflammatory processes, thereby enhancing efficacy while minimizing adverse effects. Engineered cell-biomimetic nanosystems (ECNs), including membrane-coated nanoparticles, extracellular vesicles (ECVs), and cell-nanoparticle hybrids, are highly adaptable biomimetic platforms with tunable physicochemical properties. Beyond carrier functions, ECNs are capable of actively responding to inflammation-related targets and interacting with the immune microenvironment, thereby promoting the dynamic regulation of inflammation. This review summarizes recent advances in ECNs, with an emphasis on targeting mechanisms and key strategies for inflammatory intervention. These include precise targeting of inflamed tissues, biological neutralization of toxins and overexpressed inflammatory factors to interrupt the inflammatory cascade, and immunomodulatory functions that balance immune responses to achieve activation or suppression. Physical, chemical, and biological engineering strategies for modifying cells and cell membranes for inflammation targeting are also discussed. As an emerging platform for targeted drug delivery and immune regulation, ECNs provide innovative technological approaches for inflammation therapy. ECNs engineered modifications and targeting mechanisms for inflammatory therapy include biological neutralization of toxins and overexpressed inflammatory factors to interrupt the inflammatory cascade, and immunomodulation to balance immune responses. (Created with BioRender.com )