Force-Responsive Delivery of Anticancer Drugs via a DNA Mechanical Nanovehicle

Cellular mechanical dysregulation can lead to diseases and conditions like tumorigenesis. Drug delivery systems that recognize and respond to specific cellular mechanical characteristics are potentially useful for targeted therapy. We report here the creation of a DNA mechanical nanovehicle that is responsive to cell surface receptor-mediated tensile forces, which can then correspondingly deliver an anticancer drug in situ. These DNA mechanical nanovehicles can spontaneously anchor onto cell membranes and enable the real-time visualization of molecular tensions at intercellular junctions. Once a strong intercellular force was detected, a rapid drug release event was followed automatically. Force-triggered targeted cancer cell treatment was demonstrated both in vitro and in a cell mixture. Our results proved a novel cellular force-responsive platform that can be used for highly specific drug delivery, which may potentially lead to smart cancer therapy with enhanced efficacy and safety.