Scientists have developed and tested a "DNA robot" that delivers payloads such as drug molecules to specific cells.
The container was made using a method called DNA origami, in which long DNA chains are folded in a prescribed way. Then, so-called aptamers - which can recognise specific cell types - were used to lock the barrel-shaped robot. In lab tests described in Science, the locks opened on contact with cancer cell proteins, releasing antibodies that halted the cells' growth.
"We've been working on figuring out how to build different shapes using DNA over the past several years, and other researchers have used antibodies as therapeutics, in order to manipulate cell signalling, and yet others have demonstrated that aptamers can be used to target cancer cell types," Dr Douglas told BBC News.
"The novel part is really integrating all those different pieces and putting them together in a single device that works."
Dr Douglas said that there was still much optimisation to be done on the robots; for now the team will create a great many of them to be tested in an animal model.
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