Artificial cells in disease therapy: Structural and functional biomimicry, challenges, and future perspectives

Artificial cells have emerged as a critical bridge for understanding the basic principles of cell life systems and harnessing these principles for treating human diseases. Through the ingenious integration of materials design and biological principles, they can mimic the structural hierarchy, dynamic behaviors, and functional complexity of natural cells, enabling controlled drug delivery, metabolic regulation, and immune modulation. Recent advances in their construction have facilitated precise control over membrane permeability, internal compartmentalization, and hierarchical assembly. Structurally biomimetic artificial cells that replicate cellular morphology or membrane interfaces exhibit enhanced circulatory stability, precise tissue targeting, and tunable release kinetics. Functionally mimetic artificial cells incorporating enzymes, genetic, or signaling modules serve as catalytic microreactors and metabolic artificial organelles, achieving localized biotransformation and enzyme-based therapies. Furthermore, hybrid artificial cells derived from or coupled with living cells inherit native biological functions, promoting immune evasion, site-specific accumulation, and adaptive therapeutic responses. Collectively, these advancements establish artificial cells as promising next-generation platforms for drug delivery and therapeutic systems. Nevertheless, long-term biosafety, spatiotemporal precision control, and scalable clinical translation manufacturing remain key challenges. Ongoing interdisciplinary progress in materials science, cell engineering, and precision biomanufacturing is poised to propel artificial cells toward intelligent, disease-specific, and clinically viable therapeutic solutions. • This review summarizes recent advances in structurally and functionally biomimetic artificial cells for disease therapy. • Emphasis is placed on artificial cells mimicking cellular morphology, membrane interfaces, and intracellular organization to enhance in vivo therapeutic performance. • Key challenges and future directions toward clinical translation of artificial cells, including biosafety, scalability, and spatiotemporal control, are critically discussed.