DNA 'Trojan horse' smuggles drugs into resistant cancer cells
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Researchers at The Ohio State University are working on a new way to treat drug-resistant cancer using DNA that hides the invading force.
In this case, the invading force is a common cancer drug.
Previously, other research groups have used the same packaging technique, known as "DNA origami," to foil drug resistance in solid tumors. This is the first time researchers have shown that the same technique works on drug-resistant leukemia cells.
Researchers at The Ohio State University are working to develop DNA nanostructures that deliver medicine to drug-resistant cancer cells. These electron microscope images show the structures empty (left) and loaded with the cancer drug daunorubicin (right). The researchers have demonstrated for the first time that such "DNA origami" structures can be used to treat drug-resistant leukemia cells. Image by Randy Patton, courtesy of The Ohio State University.The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering's (MAE) Assistant Professor Carlos Castro and John Byrd of Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center are leading the collaboration, focused on hiding daunorubicin inside a kind of molecular Trojan horse that can by pass the pumps so they can't eject the drug from the cell.
