ArticleNature biotechnology2018
A DNA nanorobot functions as a cancer therapeutic in response to a molecular trigger in vivo.
Article in Nature biotechnology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 442 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
442 citing papers in PubMed, 1,455 citations in OpenAlex.
- pH-Driven Actuation of Unmodified DNA Origami Rectangles.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- A DNA triangular prism scaffold-guided directionally-controlled derailment-free DNAzyme walker.Journal of advanced research · 2026Article
- Construction of a Glutathione-Gated Intelligent Nanoclassifier for Spatioselective Visualization of Dual CircRNAs and Synergistic Photodynamic Therapy.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Review
- Programmable DNA Logic Systems for Applications in Biomedicine.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Review
- DNA origami-based drug delivery and cell manipulation: toward intelligent nanomedicine.RSC chemical biology · 2026Review
- Assembly of Protein-DNA Framework Nanostructures: Structurally Defining Protein-DNA Interfaces With Aptamer.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- DNA-Enzyme Hybrid Nanostructures: Functional Materials to Modulate Enzymatic Activity.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Review
- Advances in Nanoarchitectural Designs for Anticancer Drug Delivery to Deep Tumors.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Review
- Bioengineered systems to exploit tumor microenvironment metabolism.Trends in cancer · 2026Review
- From Blueprint to Breakthrough: How Far Can We Fold DNA Origami for Nano-Enabled Technologies?JACS Au · 2026Review
- Vancomycin-Mediated Binding of DNA Origami Nanostructures to Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2026Article
- Programmable next-generation supramolecular self-assembled materials as drug delivery systems.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- Light-responsive DNA nanostructures.Nature reviews. Chemistry · 2026Review
- Classifying Multistate DNA Origami: An Automated Approach with Minimal Labeling and Confidence-Based Filtering.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2026Article
- Construction of a COChemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- A general and scalable DNA nano-chip with a fully localized architecture enables biocomputing in living cells and precisely induces cell apoptosis.Chemical science · 2026Article
- The Application of Micro/Nanorobots in Cancer Therapy.Micromachines · 2026Review
- AIEgen-mediated integration of plain DNA and hydrophobic compounds enabling three-in-one nanosystems for carrier-free delivery.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2026Article
- Interactions of the DNA Nanostructure with Silane-Based Self-Assembled Monolayers.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2026Article
382 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Nanoscale robots have potential as intelligent drug delivery systems that respond to molecular triggers. Using DNA origami we constructed an autonomous DNA robot programmed to transport payloads and present them specifically in tumors. Our nanorobot is functionalized on the outside with a DNA aptamer that binds nucleolin, a protein specifically expressed on tumor-associated endothelial cells, and the blood coagulation protease thrombin within its inner cavity. The nucleolin-targeting aptamer serves both as a targeting domain and as a molecular trigger for the mechanical opening of the DNA nanorobot. The thrombin inside is thus exposed and activates coagulation at the tumor site. Using tumor-bearing mouse models, we demonstrate that intravenously injected DNA nanorobots deliver thrombin specifically to tumor-associated blood vessels and induce intravascular thrombosis, resulting in tumor necrosis and inhibition of tumor growth. The nanorobot proved safe and immunologically inert in mice and Bama miniature pigs. Our data show that DNA nanorobots represent a promising strategy for precise drug delivery in cancer therapy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.