Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and occurs mostly with poor outcomes. Our objective was to endow synthetic lethality to the phytoconstituent chikusetsusaponin IVa methyl ester (CSME, S), a special phytoconstituent from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Panax japonicus, with the photodynamic agent chlorin e6 (Ce6, C) and enhance the therapeutic efficacy against breast cancer using cell membrane-coated liposome nanoparticles (liposome, L). The delivery system based on liposomes was camouflaged by a hybrid cell membrane (RBC membrane and cancer cell membrane, M) and RGD (R) surface modifications to improve the solubility, targeting and treatment outcomes of CSME. Our results showed the successful development of nanocomplexes with extended half-life, increased immune evasion and targeted ability at the tumor site and good antitumor activity without side effects to normal tissue. The anti-tumor mechanism of nanocomplexes is related to cell proliferation regulation and apoptosis induction. Overall, this drug-delivery system provides a good alternative for breast cancer therapy using a natural active phytoconstituent.