Background

A large number of drugs, including small molecules and proteins exhibit good in vitro activity but little efficacy in vivo due to poor pharmacokinetics. Drug delivery systems based on nanoparticles (NPs) have become one of the most promising strategies to overcome this obstacle. NPs can encapsulate guest small molecules, or even complex macromolecules, and protect them from the surrounding environments (e.g., physiological conditions).

Despite the advantages of NPs for drug delivery, there are challenges associated with the use of typical NPs. For instance, lipid- and polymer-based NPs improve drug efficacy, but still battle important limitations. Lipid-based nanoparticles (LNPs) tend to be unstable during dilution, thus leading to cargo leakage. And, polymer-based nanoparticles (PNPs) often encounter polydispersity (non-uniform distribution of