Intelligent micro-/nanorobots as drug and cell carrier devices for biomedical therapeutic advancement: Promising development opportunities and translational challenges

Agrahari, Vibhuti; Agrahari, Vivek; Chou, Ming Li; Chew, Chew Ho; Noll, James; Burnouf, Thierry

doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120163

Cited by 80 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 116 publications

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“…The miniaturization of robotic platforms has the potential for advancing medical treatment and diagnosis of patients. These tiny robotic surgeons could give us access to remote and hard to reach sections of the body and perform diverse medical procedures [1][2][3][4][5] Despite the progress of medical micro/nanorobots in the last decade, one of the unmet needs and significant challenges of this field relies on translating these tools toward widespread clinical use. In this direction, this review aims to illustrate recent trends in micro/nano robotic research, focusing on their use in precision medicine toward clinical transition (Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical Micro/Nanorobots in Precision Medicine

et al. 2020

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Advances in medical robots promise to improve modern medicine and the quality of life. Miniaturization of these robotic platforms has led to numerous applications that leverages precision medicine. In this review, the current trends of medical micro and nanorobotics for therapy, surgery, diagnosis, and medical imaging are discussed. The use of micro and nanorobots in precision medicine still faces technical, regulatory, and market challenges for their widespread use in clinical settings. Nevertheless, recent translations from proof of concept to in vivo studies demonstrate their potential toward precision medicine.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical Micro/Nanorobots in Precision Medicine

et al. 2020

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“…Although referred to as machines or robots, dynamic nucleic-acid-based nanostructures mainly rely on blood circulation for delivery and do not provide autonomous movement, as demonstrated in other micro- or nanostructures driven by exogenous power, such as magnetic fields, acoustic fields, electric fields and/or light energy, or by endogenous chemical reaction energy 102 . Such active transport mechanisms face several technical challenges; they require self-propelled motion; transport needs to be sustained by chemical or biological fuels; and navigation has to be controlled in the complex body environment, which shows irregular Brownian motion and can lead to interactions between the nanostructure and biological molecules 103 .…”

Section: Multifunctional Nanostructuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifunctional biomolecule nanostructures for cancer therapy

2021

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Biomolecule-based nanostructures are inherently multifunctional and harbour diverse biological activities, which can be explored for cancer nanomedicine. The supramolecular properties of biomolecules can be precisely programmed for the design of smart drug delivery vehicles, enabling efficient transport in vivo, targeted drug delivery and combinatorial therapy within a single design. In this Review, we discuss biomolecule-based nanostructures, including polysaccharides, nucleic acids, peptides and proteins, and highlight their enormous design space for multifunctional nanomedicines. We identify key challenges in cancer nanomedicine that can be addressed by biomolecule-based nanostructures and survey the distinct biological activities, programmability and in vivo behaviour of biomolecule-based nanostructures. Finally, we discuss challenges in the rational design, characterization and fabrication of biomolecule-based nanostructures, and identify obstacles that need to be overcome to enable clinical translation.

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“…To close this section, and to direct readers to sources of information beyond this current review, we list the following excellent review articles on nanomotors for biomedical applications, on the topics of 1) overall overviews, [36,[72][73][74][75] 2) drug delivery/cargo transportation, [32,34,38,40,[76][77][78][79][80][81] 3) diagnosis, [82] 4) sensing, [77][78][79]83] 5) in vivo applications, [34,[84][85][86] 6) surface coating, [87] 7) cancer therapy, [33,37,88,89] 8) biocompatibility, [66] 9) biological barriers/complex environment/entering a cell [39,[90][91][92] and 10) imaging, [90,93,94] as well as on particular types of nanomotors for biomedical application, such as those made of hydrogel [95] or those powered by magnetic fields. [96] This list of review articles-a total of 35 and counting-is by no means comprehensive, and only covers the period of 2013-2020 (see the book by Prof. Joseph Wang [7] for pre-2013 reviews).…”

Section: Nanomotors What and Howmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Journey of Nanomotors for Targeted Cancer Therapy: Principles, Challenges, and a Critical Review of the State‐of‐the‐Art

Wang

Zhou

2020

Adv Healthcare Materials

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A nanomotor is a miniaturized device that converts energy stored in the environment into mechanical motion. The last two decades have witnessed a surge of research interests in the biomedical applications of nanomotors, but little clinical translation. To accelerate this process, targeted cancer therapy is used as an example to describe a “survive, locate, operate, and terminate” (SLOT) mission of a nanomotor, where it must 1) survive in the unfriendly in vivo environment, 2) locate its target as well as be located by human operators, 3) carry out specific operations, and 4) terminate after the mission is completed. Along this journey, the challenges presented to a nanomotor, including to power, navigate, steer, target, release, control, image, and communicate are discussed, and how state‐of‐the‐art nanomotors meet or fall short of these requirements is critically reviewed. These discussions are then condensed into a table for easy reference. In particular, it is argued that chemically powered nanomotors are intrinsically ill‐positioned for targeted cancer therapy, while nanomotors powered by magnetic fields or ultrasound show more promises. Following this argument, a tentative nanomotor design is then presented in the end to conform to the SLOT guideline, and to inspire practical, functional nanorobots that are yet to come.

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Intelligent micro-/nanorobots as drug and cell carrier devices for biomedical therapeutic advancement: Promising development opportunities and translational challenges

Cited by 80 publications

References 116 publications

Medical Micro/Nanorobots in Precision Medicine

Medical Micro/Nanorobots in Precision Medicine

Multifunctional biomolecule nanostructures for cancer therapy

A Journey of Nanomotors for Targeted Cancer Therapy: Principles, Challenges, and a Critical Review of the State‐of‐the‐Art

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