TY - JOUR
T1 - Engineering Synthetic Erythrocytes as Next-Generation Blood Substitutes
AU - Gomes, Francisca L.
AU - Jeong, Seol Ha
AU - Shin, Su Ryon
AU - Leijten, Jeroen
AU - Jonkheijm, Pascal
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
PY - 2024/7/10
Y1 - 2024/7/10
N2 - Blood scarcity is one of the main causes of healthcare disruptions worldwide, with blood shortages occurring at an alarming rate. Over the last decades, blood substitutes have aimed at reinforcing the supply of blood, with several products (e.g., hemoglobin (Hb)-based oxygen (O2) carriers, perfluorocarbons (PFC)) achieving a limited degree of success. Regardless, there is still no widespread solution to this problem due to persistent challenges in product safety and scalability. In this Review, different advances are described in the field of blood substitution, particularly in the development of artificial red blood cells, otherwise known as engineered erythrocytes (EE). The different strategies are categorized into natural, synthetic, or hybrid approaches, and discuss their potential in terms of safety and scalability. Synthetic EEs are identified as the most powerful approach, and describe erythrocytes from a materials engineering perspective. Their biological structure and function are reviewed, as well as explore different methods of assembling a material-based cell. Specifically, it is discussed how to recreate size, shape, and deformability through particle fabrication, and how to recreate the functional machinery through synthetic biology and nanotechnology. It is concluded by describing the versatile nature of synthetic erythrocytes in medicine and pharmaceuticals and propose specific directions for the field of erythrocyte engineering.
AB - Blood scarcity is one of the main causes of healthcare disruptions worldwide, with blood shortages occurring at an alarming rate. Over the last decades, blood substitutes have aimed at reinforcing the supply of blood, with several products (e.g., hemoglobin (Hb)-based oxygen (O2) carriers, perfluorocarbons (PFC)) achieving a limited degree of success. Regardless, there is still no widespread solution to this problem due to persistent challenges in product safety and scalability. In this Review, different advances are described in the field of blood substitution, particularly in the development of artificial red blood cells, otherwise known as engineered erythrocytes (EE). The different strategies are categorized into natural, synthetic, or hybrid approaches, and discuss their potential in terms of safety and scalability. Synthetic EEs are identified as the most powerful approach, and describe erythrocytes from a materials engineering perspective. Their biological structure and function are reviewed, as well as explore different methods of assembling a material-based cell. Specifically, it is discussed how to recreate size, shape, and deformability through particle fabrication, and how to recreate the functional machinery through synthetic biology and nanotechnology. It is concluded by describing the versatile nature of synthetic erythrocytes in medicine and pharmaceuticals and propose specific directions for the field of erythrocyte engineering.
KW - artificial cells
KW - biomimetics
KW - blood substitutes
KW - lipid bilayers
KW - oxygen generation
KW - synthetic red blood cells
KW - UT-Hybrid-D
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184431954&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/adfm.202315879
DO - 10.1002/adfm.202315879
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85184431954
SN - 1616-301X
VL - 34
JO - Advanced functional materials
JF - Advanced functional materials
IS - 28
M1 - 2315879
ER -