DNA nanorobots target cancer cells, then convince them to commit suicide - apoptosis.
Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering scientists have created a nanorobotic device made from DNA that could carry molecular instructions into specific cells and tell them to self-destruct.
Because the DNA-based device could be programmed to target a variety of cells, it could be used to treat a range of diseases in addition to providing hope in the fight against cancer.
By folding strands of DNA in what is known as the DNA origami method, the researchers create a three-dimensional open barrel shape whose two halves are connected by a hinge.
The container is held shut by special DNA latches that reconfigure when they find their specific target - cancer cells, for example - causing the two halves to swing open and expose the container's payload.
These payloads can be of various types, including molecules with encoded instructions that can interact with surface signaling receptors.
The researchers used the nanorobots to deliver instructions encoded in antibody fragments to leukemia and lymphoma cells, activating the cell's suicide gene, which causes a cell to kill itself through apoptosis.
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