Toward therapeutic delivery with layer-by-layer engineered particles.

Layer-by-layer (LbL)-engineered particles have recently emerged as a promising class of materials for applications in biomedicine, with studies progressing from in vitro to in vivo. The versatility of LbL assembly coupled with particle templating has led to engineered particles with specific properties (e.g., stimuli-responsive, high cargo encapsulation efficiency, targeting), thus offering new opportunities in targeted and triggered therapeutic release. This Perspective highlights an important development by Poon et al. on tumor targeting in vivo using LbL-engineered nanoparticles containing a pH-responsive poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) surface layer. Further, we summarize recent progress in the application of LbL particles in the fields of drug, gene, and vaccine delivery and cancer imaging. Finally, we explore future directions in this field, focusing on the biological processing of LbL-assembled particles.