Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Smart cancer therapy with DNA origami

Nature Biotechnology volume 36, pages 234–235 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Tumor infarction is achieved through targeted delivery of thrombin by DNA nanorobots.

Technologies for delivering cytotoxic drugs to tumors while sparing healthy tissues have lagged behind our rapidly growing understanding of cancer biology. Improved methods for drug delivery would undoubtedly translate into higher efficacy and lower toxicity for many cancer therapies1. A promising approach is the use of drug nanocarriers equipped with tumor-specific targeting ligands or environmentally responsive molecular switches. Nanoparticles built from DNA origami can integrate molecular information to autonomously perform a complex task, but so far therapeutic applications of DNA origami have remained elusive2. In this issue, Li et al.3 report the first in vivo application of a DNA origami nanoparticle for cancer therapy. Their 100-nm cylindrical device carries thrombin within it, shielded from the blood, and unfolds to expose the enzyme only after binding a molecular trigger in the tumor. The authors show that delivery of thrombin induces induces local formation of blood clots, occludes tumor blood vessels and leads to tumor necrosis. In principle, the approach could be effective against a wide array of solid tumors, as all solid-tumor–feeding vessels are essentially the same4.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: A DNA-origami nanorobot for cancer therapy.

References

  1. Parodi, A. et al. Biomaterials 147, 155–168 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kumar, V. et al. Theranostics 6, 710–725 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Li, S. et al. Nat. Biotechnol. 36, 258–264 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Neri, D. & Bicknell, R. Nat. Rev. Cancer 5, 436–446 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Rothemund, P.W. Nature 440, 297–302 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kearney, C.J., Lucas, C.R., O'Brien, F.J. & Castro, C.E. Adv. Mater. 28, 5509–5524 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Douglas, S.M., Bachelet, I. & Church, G.M. Science 335, 831–834 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Jiang, Q. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 13396–13403 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Praetorius, F. et al. Nature 552, 84–87 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Surana, S., Shenoy, A.R. & Krishnan, Y. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 741–747 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ennio Tasciotti is at the Center for Biomimetic Medicine and Center for Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Houston Methodist Orthopedic and Sports Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.,

    Ennio Tasciotti

Authors
  1. Ennio Tasciotti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ennio Tasciotti.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tasciotti, E. Smart cancer therapy with DNA origami. Nat Biotechnol 36, 234–235 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4095

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4095

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer