How to kill a cancer is a problem that researchers around the world are trying to solve with varying degrees of success. Now an international team of scientists is testing a new technique to kill tumors - using nanobots to restrict the blood supply to tumors, effectively burning them.
In a recent study, scientists from Arizona State University (ASU) and the National Center for Nano Science and Technology (NCNST) from the Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstrated how effective nanobots are at eliminating tumor growths. Mini-robots have been able to shut off the blood supply to tumors for breast cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, and lung cancer in mice. After two weeks of treatment with this method, the researchers reported, the tumor tissue in the animals shrank.
These robots were inspired by origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. And this is far from the first technology based on origami. The idea of origami is used by designers to create literal everything: from spacecraft (folding solar panels!) To light body armor.
DNA origami - the creation of various flat shapes a thousand times smaller than human hairs using DNA strands - is a new field that could revolutionize drug delivery and treatment. Each of these tumor-targeting nanorobots consists of a flat molecular origami sheet measuring only 90 nanometers by 60 nanometers. The leaf is equipped with an enzyme that is capable of forming clots in the blood vessels that feed the tumor.
This new technology eliminates previous problems faced by scientists trying to create nanorobots that destroy tumors. Previous attempts to kill tumors without harming healthy tissues and cells have been less successful. So instead of feeding nanobots directly to tumors, the research team was simply trying to shut off their blood supply. By making the tumors literally starve, scientists have achieved their reduction and even complete destruction, without harming healthy cells in the process of healing.
As the scope of nanomedicine applications expands, there are still many obstacles to overcome before nanorobots can be used in human clinical trials. But the results of this new study are promising: from treating tumors to delivering drugs to specific areas of the human body, the future of nanorobot medicine looks tempting.
The study was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
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