Force-Responsive\nDelivery of Anticancer Drugs via\na DNA Mechanical Nanovehicle

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