Engineering Proteinosomes with Cellular-Like Functionalities

Recent development of various types of functional microcompartmentalized ensembles that can imitate rudimentary aspects of living cells has attracted great attentions in a wide range of research communities. Proteinosome is one typical form of these biomimetic structures. Significant advances in their construction have indicated that by utilizing interfacial self-assembly, polymer-based membrane templating, and hybrid lipid–polymer systems can achieve tunable permeability, mechanical stability, and stimuli–responsive behaviors, which is detailedly elaborated in this review. Additionally, this review emphasizes their functionalization strategies that enable programable bioactivity and communication, as well as community aggregation structures to build prototissues exhibiting cellular-like behaviors. Innovations in stimuli–responsive materials and multicompartmentalized architectures further enhance spatiotemporal control over biochemical processes, while the convergence of polymer chemistry, synthetic biology, and nanotechnology continues to expand the functional scope of proteinosomes, positioning them as transformative tools for next-generation artificial cell models or biomimetic materials. Having covered these topics in depth, this review hopes to inspire additional investigation into the research methodologies related to proteinosomes, furthermore the artificial cells, as well as possible applications in targeted cancer therapy, gene therapy, and artificial organelles design.