A fully autonomous DNA robotic system, considered a major advancement in nanomedicine, might just be the cancer cure that the world has been waiting for. As a result of a collaboration between scientists from Arizona State University (ASU) together with researchers from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, nanorobots have now been successfully programmed to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply. In just 24 hours, the treatment was able to do that and generate tumor tissue damage.
A first of its kind, this DNA robotic system is meant for a "very precise drug design and targeted cancer therapy," according to Hao Yan, the director of the ASU Biodesign Institute's Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics as well as the Milton Glick Professor in the School of Molecular Sciences.
Yan, a DNA origami expert, has been developing atomic scale manufacturing for the past two decades in order to build more complex structures. This essentially allows DNA to self-fold in various shapes and sizes to up to 1,000 times smaller than human hair width.
This endeavor has been particularly challenging because scientists have painstakingly created nanorobots that they can control in order to seek and destroy tumors, but not at the risk of harming any healthy cells in the process. The lauded team of scientists have determined that the solution is to simply use the nanorobot to single out a tumor, identify it, and cause it to "starve".
This fully programmable robotic system can ultimately perform a medical mission on its own. A blood-clotting enzyme called "thrombin" is attached to each nanorobot, which is made from a flat, rectangular DNA origami sheet, whose dimensions are 90 nanometers by 60 nanometers. Thrombin then blocks tumor blood flow, creating an attack towards the tumor which leads to its tissue death.
According to their study, there were no evidences of nanorobots migrating into the brain, which means they cannot cause unwanted side effects such as strokes. The treatment can achieve success in 24 hours, all while having no adverse effects on healthy tissues.
