Engineering immune cells with membrane-fusogenic liposomes: A new frontier in adoptive cell therapy

Qingguo Zhong; Yuxin Huang; Zhenhua Li; Chunxiong Zheng; Yu Tao; Mingqiang Li

doi:10.70401/bmeh.2026.0035

Engineering immune cells with membrane-fusogenic liposomes: A new frontier in adoptive cell therapy

Qingguo Zhong

Yuxin Huang

2,3

Zhenhua Li

Chunxiong Zheng

5,*

Yu Tao

2,6

Mingqiang Li

2,6,7,*

Affiliation +

¹ School of Medicine, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, Fujian, China.
² Laboratory of Biomaterials and Translational Medicine, Center for Nanomedicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong, China.
³ The First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University‌, Guangzhou 510120, Guangdong, China.
⁴ The Tenth Affiliated Hospital, Southern Medical University, Dongguan 523059, Guangdong, China.
⁵ School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China.
⁶ Cell-Gene Therapy Center, Institute for Frontier Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite and Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, Guangdong, China.

*Correspondence to: Chunxiong Zheng, School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China. E-mail: zhengchunxiong@m.scnu.edu.cn
Mingqiang Li, Laboratory of Biomaterials and Translational Medicine, Center for Nanomedicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong, China; Cell-Gene Therapy Center, Institute for Frontier Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong, China; Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite and Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, Guangdong, China. E-mail: limq567@mail.sysu.edu.cn

BME Horiz. 2027;5:202625. 10.70401/bmeh.2026.0035

Received: June 16, 2026Accepted: September 07, 2026Published: September 07, 2026

This manuscript is made available in its unedited form to allow early access to the reported findings. Further editing will be completed before final publication. As such, the content may include errors, and standard legal disclaimers are applicable.

Abstract

Adoptive cell therapy continues to encounter diverse hurdles in treating solid tumors, including poor infiltration, an immunosuppressive microenvironment, and tumor immune evasion, necessitating the endowment of effector cells with multiple functionalities. However, conventional cell-engineering techniques, including genetic editing and chemical modification, merely modulate a single functional axis to yield a monofunctional effector cell that can overcome only one physiological barrier, leading to insufficient solid tumor suppression. Recently, membrane-fusogenic liposomes have emerged as a multiplex engineering tool capable of straightforwardly producing multifunctional effector cells to synchronously surmount multiple challenges for effective antitumor efficacy. Through a fusion process, this liposome concurrently achieves immune cell surface functionalization and intracellular delivery of bioactive molecules, thereby endowing effector cells with multiple functionalities within a single step. This minireview summarizes recent advances in the use of fusogenic liposomes for immune cell engineering to boost their therapeutic efficiency on solid tumors. We discuss their design principles, representative applications, and analyze their technical advantages and current limitations. Looking forward, we propose that membrane-fusogenic liposomes hold potential to advance the development of multimodal engineered immune cells for next-generation cancer immunotherapies.

Keywords

Adoptive cell therapy, cell engineering, membrane fusion, liposome

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Zhong Q, Huang Y, Li Z, Zheng C, Tao Y, Li M. Engineering immune cells with membrane-fusogenic liposomes: A new frontier in adoptive cell therapy. BME Horiz. 2027;5:202625. https://doi.org/10.70401/bmeh.2026.0035