DNA Nanobots Could Deliver the Future of Medicine

Built from molecules, this “DNA Nanocage” (sounds cool because it is) was designed by researchers, but self-assembled from the human “body’s own molecules.” The hope, while far off, is that the Nanocages could be ingestible in pill form, containing medicine to effectively trap diseases or cancers at the molecular level.

Mashable spoke to Biomedical Engineering Post Doctoral Associate Sissel Juul, Ph.D., about how the DNA Nanocage works and why it matters. He has been working on this project at Duke University since 2008. Juul told us that DNA structures are not new and are based on the core principles of DNA binding. DNA has four bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (g) and thymine (T). Each base naturally pairs with a certain other base (always in pairs; A with T and C with G). “So the sequence of the DNA, which molecule comes after which molecule, will tell us how it will assemble,” said Juul.

As for what’s next, Juul doesn’t think the idea of a pill full of these things to deliver targeted medicine is all that far-fetched. “There are a lot of drug delivery mechanisms, [but] making a pill is most desirable. You don't have to open anything except your mouth."

Near-term, however, they’re working on attaching something else to the DNA cage. “Some cancer cells have specific receptors that recognize a specific molecule. So if you can add that to the cage, only the cancer cell would take it up.”

In essence, it’s the nano-sized version of the Trojan horse. The cancer cell sees an attractive molecule riding on friendly human DNA, having no idea that inside that DNA latticework is a drug that can wipe it out.

Juul believes “we will see commercial targeted non-viral drug delivery soon.” And when is that? “The question is whether a DNA based vehicle will win the ‘race’ over other nanorobots,” wrote Juul in an email. “I can't really give you a specific timeframe —sorry. It is also a matter of clinical trials and FDA approvals, which tend to take a really long time. So even if the technology is there, it might take a while.”

More details on the study can be found here.

Source: http://mashable.com/2013/12/04/researchers-build-dna-nanocage/