I. Nanorobots
Nanorobots are robots that are nanometers or micrometers in size. As early as 1959, Nobel laureate theoretical physicist Richard Feynman first proposed the idea of using microrobots to treat diseases. Two other ideas he had at the time—tiny chips for storing information and microscopes for exploring the microscopic world—have now become a reality.
Today, with the continuous advancement of industrial manufacturing technology, we have the capability to process high-precision micro-components. Molecular nanotechnology is also one of the fastest-growing technologies in recent years. Taking the pharmaceutical field as an example, since the advent of nanoliposome drug delivery systems in the 1960s, nanomedicine has been a hot area in new drug development. Currently, many liposome nanomedicines have entered the market, and many drugs based on different nanocarriers (micelles, dendritic polymers, microneedles, etc.) are in the clinical research stage.
With the rise of artificial intelligence, the cutting-edge field of medical intelligent nanosystems, a deep interdisciplinary integration, is gradually taking shape. In 2013, the research team led by Yiping Zhao at the University of Georgia developed magnetically driven nanorobots that accelerated thrombus dissolution by promoting the delivery of tissue plasminogen activator. In the same year, the Pumera team at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore conducted the first study on the toxic effects of a self-driven nanorobot on human cells, marking a solid step towards the clinical application of nanorobots. Since then, an increasing number of nanorobot designs with diverse forms and rich functions have emerged.
II. Nanorobots can be used for cancer treatment.
Malignant tumors are a major killer of human health. The vascular system of a tumor is closely related to its growth, invasion, and metastasis. The treatment approach of "starving" the tumor by blocking its blood vessels and supplying it with nutrients and oxygen is now widely used in physical interventional therapy for malignant tumors such as liver cancer. Thrombin in the blood is a key enzyme in the body's coagulation system, capable of rapidly and efficiently inducing thrombus formation. If thrombin is loaded as a specific "cargo" inside a nanorobot and precisely delivered to the tumor's blood vessels through targeted transport, inducing coagulation and thrombus formation, then tumor growth and metastasis can be effectively inhibited by embolizing the tumor.
Based on this seemingly far-fetched idea, a team at the China National Center for Nanoscience and Technology has developed a DNA nanorobot for transporting thrombin for tumor treatment. Its working principle involves using DNA origami to construct an intelligent molecular machine, encapsulating the "cargo"—thrombin—within the machine's internal cavity, rendering it inactive. At both ends of the machine are "radar"—nucleic acid aptamers—providing targeted recognition and localization. When the DNA nanorobot reaches a tumor blood vessel, the "lock" on the nanorobot recognizes a specific marker, causing a structural change that opens the "lock." The entire nanorobot transforms from a tubular structure to a planar structure, exposing the internal "cargo" and thus inducing embolization.
The team at the China National Center for Nanoscience and Technology validated the technology at both the cellular and in vivo levels. The results showed that this DNA nanorobot can achieve precise transport and targeted embolization of thrombin in vivo, and has good therapeutic effects on many cancers.
