Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Nat Nanotechnol. 2021 Mar;16(3):266-276. doi: 10.1038/s41565-021-00858-8. Epub 2021 Mar 12.
Endocytosis is a critical step in the process by which many therapeutic nanomedicines reach their intracellular targets. Our understanding of cellular uptake mechanisms has developed substantially in the past five years. However, these advances in cell biology have not fully translated to the nanoscience and therapeutics literature. Misconceptions surrounding the role of different endocytic pathways and how to study these pathways are hindering progress in developing improved nanoparticle therapies. Here, we summarize the latest insights into cellular uptake mechanisms and pathways. We highlight limitations of current systems to study endocytosis, particularly problems with non-specific inhibitors. We also summarize alternative genetic approaches to robustly probe these pathways and discuss the need to understand how cells endocytose particles in vivo. We hope that this critical assessment of the current methods used in studying nanoparticle uptake will guide future studies at the interface of cell biology and nanomedicine.
内吞作用是许多治疗性纳米药物到达其细胞内靶标的关键步骤。在过去的五年中，我们对细胞摄取机制的理解有了很大的发展。然而，这些细胞生物学方面的进展并没有完全转化为纳米科学和治疗学文献。关于不同内吞途径的作用以及如何研究这些途径的误解，阻碍了开发改进的纳米颗粒治疗方法的进展。在这里，我们总结了细胞摄取机制和途径的最新见解。我们强调了当前用于研究内吞作用的系统的局限性，特别是非特异性抑制剂的问题。我们还总结了替代的遗传方法来稳健地探测这些途径，并讨论了理解细胞在体内如何内吞颗粒的必要性。我们希望对目前用于研究纳米颗粒摄取的方法进行批判性评估，将为细胞生物学和纳米医学界面的未来研究提供指导。
