Lipid-polymer hybrid NPs were prepared via self-assembly of PLGA (poly (D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid); Lactel, Pelham, AL), lecithin (soybean, refined, molecular weight: ~330 Da; Alfa Aesar, Ward Hill, MA), and DSPE-PEG (1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine- N-carboxy (polyethylene glycol)2000); Avanti, Alabaster, AL) through a single-step nanoprecipitation method. Briefly, PLGA polymer was dissolved in acetonitrile with concentrations ranging from 1~5 mg/mL. Lecithin/DSPE-PEG (8.5/1.5, molar ratio) with a weight ratio of 15% to the PLGA polymer were dissolved in 4 wt% ethanol aqueous solution. The lecithin/DSPE-PEG solution was heated to 65°C to ensure all lipids were in liquid phase. The resulting PLGA solution was then added into the preheated lipid solution dropwise under gentle stirring. The mixed solution was vortexed vigorously for 3 minutes followed by gentle stirring for 2 hours at room temperature. The remaining organic solvent and free molecules were removed by washing the NP solution three times using an Amicon Ultra-4 centrifugal filter (Millipore, Billerica, MA) with a molecular weight cut-off of 10,000 Da. To prepare drug-encapsulated NPs, docetaxel (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO) with proper initial dosage was dissolved into the PLGA acetonitrile solution before the nanoprecipitation process. NP size (diameter, nm) and surface charge (zeta potential, mV) were obtained from three repeat measurements by Quasi-elastic laser light scattering with a ZetaPALS dynamic light scattering detector (15 mW laser, incident beam = 676 nm; Brookhaven Instruments Corporation, Holtsville, NY).