Study Shows Progress in Targeted Drugs Using Molecular Robots

A study donet in New York city has revealed that scientists are now a step closer to finding techniques for better targeting drugs through usage of molecular robots.

The Hospital For Special Surgery (HSS) said that although many drugs for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease will target diseased cells, they can also have an effect on healthy ones because the targeted cells do not have unique receptors, which can cause the sort of side effects seen in chemotherapy patients.

Researchers at HSS and Columbia University, however, have developed new molecular robots that can identify multiple receptors on cell surfaces and target much more accurately.

In the study published on Nature Nanotechnology, researchers say they have created molecular automata from short strands of DNA and antibodies during clinical trials which are far easier and more accurate in programming to attack the desired cells and eliminate disease without causing harm to healthy cells.

Sergei Rudchenko, PhD, director of flow cytometry at HSS, said: "This is a proof of concept study using human cells. The next step is to conduct tests in a mouse model of leukemia."