“Motile-targeting” drug delivery platforms based on micro/nanorobots for tumor therapy

Abstract

Traditional drug delivery systems opened the gate for tumor-targeted therapy, but they generally took advantage of enhanced permeability and retention or ligand-receptor mediated interaction, and thus suffered from limited recognition range (<0.5 nm) and low targeting efficiency (0.7%, median). Alternatively, micro/nanorobots (MNRs) may act as emerging “motile-targeting” drug delivery platforms to deliver therapeutic payloads, thereby making a giant step toward effective and safe cancer treatment due to their autonomous movement and navigation in biological media. This review focuses on the most recent developments of MNRs in “motile-targeting” drug delivery. After a brief introduction to traditional tumor-targeted drug delivery strategies and various MNRs, the representative applications of MNRs in “motile-targeting” drug delivery are systematically streamlined in terms of the propelling mechanisms. Following a discussion of the current challenges of each type of MNR in biomedical applications, as well as future prospects, several promising designs for MNRs that could benefit in “motile-targeting” drug delivery are proposed. This work is expected to attract and motivate researchers from different communities to advance the creation and practical application of the “motile-targeting” drug delivery platforms.

Advancing Cancer Treatment Through Nanotechnology Driven Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer

“…198 Given that, immunomodulatory approaches using micro/ nanorobots (MNRs) hold great promise for the treatment of PC in the future outlook. 199 They can be designed to deliver nanoparticles that can target and modulate the immune response in the TME. These nanoparticles can be loaded with therapeutic agents, such as cytokines or ICIs, that can stimulate the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.…”

“…For instance, they can be designed to target the stromal cells in the pancreatic TME, which are known to play a critical role in promoting tumor growth and suppressing the immune response. 199 proaches using micro/nanorobots holds great promise for the treatment of PC and other types of cancer. In this regard, Song X et al study introduces drug-loaded magnetic microrobots that can induce macrophages to exhibit the antitumor phenotype, which helps target and suppress cancer cells (Figure 8D).…”

Swarming magnetic photonic‐crystal microrobots with on‐the‐fly visual pH detection and self‐regulated drug delivery

“…Motile micro/nanorobots (MNRs) are capable of propelling and navigating in various liquid media, and have been envisioned to provide revolutionary technological advances for drug delivery, microsurgeries, and micro/nanoengineering 20–29 . In terms of energy sources, MNRs can be categorized as biohybrid MNRs, 30–33 chemically powered MNRs, 34–36 and those powered by external fields, such as light, ultrasound, electric field, and magnetic field 37–41 .…”

Amoeba‐Inspired Magnetic Venom Microrobots

“…Over long evolutionary periods, nature has selected the optimal locomotion strategies for single-cell organisms to survive, such as the cilia of Paramecium, [1] the flagella of Chlamydomonas, [2,3] stimuli, including light, [13][14][15] acoustics, [16] electricity, [17][18][19] heat, [20] and magnetic fields, [21][22][23][24][25] have fascinated robotics scientists with their wide range of applications, such as environmental remediation, [26] chemical reactions, [27,28] bioassays, [29,30] and biomedicine. [31][32][33][34] Magnetic actuation strategy is a promising choice for the construction of pseudopod robots due to its advantages of easy access, biosecurity and ease of programming. [35][36][37][38] Nevertheless, it remains a challenge to emulate the high environmental adaptability and enhanced task capabilities of natural amoeba or amoeboid cells.…”