Nanorobots in action

"Researchers from Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Montréal, and McGill University have just achieved a breakthrough in cancer research. They have developed new nanorobotic agents capable of navigating through the bloodstream to administer a drug with precision by specifically targeting the active cancerous cells of tumors. This way of injecting medication ensures the optimal targeting of a tumor and avoids jeopardizing the integrity of organs and surrounding healthy tissues. As a result, the drug dosage that is highly toxic for the human organism could be significantly reduced.  

This scientific breakthrough has just been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology in an article titled "Magneto-aerotactic bacteria deliver drug-containing nanoliposomes to tumour hypoxic regions." The article notes the results of the research done on mice, which were successfully administered nanorobotic agents into colorectal tumours."

Abstract

"Oxygen-depleted hypoxic regions in the tumour are generally resistant to therapies¹. Although nanocarriers have been used to deliver drugs, the targeting ratios have been very low. Here, we show that the magneto-aerotactic migration behaviour² of magnetotactic bacteria³, Magnetococcus marinus strain MC-1 (ref. 4), can be used to transport drug-loaded nanoliposomes into hypoxic regions of the tumour. In their natural environment, MC-1 cells, each containing a chain of magnetic iron-oxide nanocrystals⁵, tend to swim along local magnetic field lines and towards low oxygen concentrations⁶ based on a two-state aerotactic sensing system². We show that when MC-1 cells bearing covalently bound drug-containing nanoliposomes were injected near the tumour in severe combined immunodeficient beige mice and magnetically guided, up to 55% of MC-1 cells penetrated into hypoxic regions of HCT116 colorectal xenografts. Approximately 70 drug-loaded nanoliposomes were attached to each MC-1 cell. Our results suggest that harnessing swarms of microorganisms exhibiting magneto-aerotactic behaviour can significantly improve the therapeutic index of various nanocarriers in tumour hypoxic regions."

Source: Surgical Products Mag, Nature Nanotechnology