Microrobots for Cancer Treatment

Engineering Microrobots for targeted cancer therapies from a medical perspective

• "To overcome low targeting of conventional treatments, two major strategies exist that aim to achieve tumour-specific effects: systemic drugs that only affect cancer cells, and drugs that are specifically delivered into the tumour cells and/or their microenvironments. "
• "By contrast, solid tumours develop a higher-order tumour anatomy11, leading to different physical and biochemical microenvironments in the interior and exterior compartments (Fig. 2b). The increased requirement of oxygen of proliferating tumour cells is usually met by additional vascularisation to the exterior compartment of the tumour. Poor vascularisation inside the core region of the tumour, however, leads to a highly hypoxic core12,13. Low partial oxygen pressures force cancer cells residing in this area to generate energy via anaerobic, glycolytic pathways that lead to lactic acid generation and thus, acidic conditions inside the tumour core14. Moreover, owing to increased proliferation, limited space combined with abnormal blood and lymphatic networks increases the internal interstitial fluid pressure inside a tumour as it continues to grow, making it increasingly difficult to penetrate15."
• "nanocarriers can be coupled with targeting ligands including peptides, proteins, antibodies or aptamers2. The ligands recognise surface markers on cancer cells and can increase the active short-range targeting abilities of nanocarriers."
• "Cancer-fighting microrobots can be split into three major classes that can be distinguished based on their make-up and source of propulsion: (1) cellular microrobots (biologically actuated) that exclusively consist of cell-made components, and are precision-engineered to exhibit anticancer effects21, (2) synthetic microrobots22 (chemically and/or physically actuated) that contain only man-made materials, structures and components, and (3) hybrid microrobots, consisting of both artificial and cell-made components that can be propelled by biological or artificial means (usually biologically actuated)."

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Autonomous, living microrobots that seek and destroy cancer are not as futuristic as one might imagine, thanks to a fusion of robotics and synthetic biology

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