DNA origami nanorobots
Folded DNA machines that open only when they touch a tumour, releasing a payload or clotting the tumour's blood supply.
DNA strands can be folded into nanoscale containers whose lids are aptamer locks that open on binding a tumour marker such as nucleolin. The best-known demonstration delivered thrombin into tumour vasculature in mice, causing intravascular thrombosis and tumour necrosis; a 2024 Karolinska design displayed death-receptor ligands only at tumour pH. Nothing in this class has entered human trials, and nuclease stability and manufacturing scale remain open questions.
How it works
Scaffolded DNA origami forms a hollow structure held shut by aptamer locks; binding the trigger opens the structure and exposes the payload only where the trigger is present.
- Logic-gated release confines activity to the tumour
- Nanometre control of payload spacing
- Materials are non-immunogenic in principle
- Preclinical only
- Nuclease degradation and rapid clearance
- Thrombosis-based designs carry obvious systemic risk
- Manufacturing cost at clinical scale
Latest papers
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