How Nanorobots Could Deliver Cancer Drugs More Precisely

What if tiny machines could travel inside your body to deliver cancer medicine exactly where it’s needed? Cancer treatment can be harsh, affecting healthy cells as well as tumors. Nanorobots—microscopic machines smaller than a cell—are being studied to carry medicine straight to cancer cells. By targeting tumours more precisely, they could reduce side effects, make treatments more effective, and help patients recover better. Researchers in India and around the world are exploring how to turn this exciting idea into real therapies.

How Nanorobots Work

1. Active Movement

Nanorobots can move inside the body to reach a tumour.

• Magnetic movement: Scientists guide them using an external magnetic field.
• Chemical movement: Some use natural body fluids like glucose for power
• tumors.Biohybrid movement: A few nanorobots combine with bacteria that naturally move toward tumours.

2. Smart Targeting

Nanorobots can find cancer cells by recognising special signals.

• They attach to tumour biomarkers such as HER2 or EGFR, which are found on cancer cells.
• They detect changes in the tumour area, like low oxygen or acidic pH, and release the drug only there.
• Some are made using DNA origami that opens up and releases medicine when it meets a cancer cell.

3. Controlled Drug Release

• After reaching the tumor, nanorobots release the drug carefully and only when needed.
• They can target deep tumor areas where regular drugs can’t reach.
• Some release medicine when exposed to light, heat, or changes in pH, ensuring safety for healthy tissue.

Safe and Effective Tumour Targeting

Nanorobots can carry cancerous drugs in a much more accurate way compared to conventional methods. They enhanced drug intake into tumor cells, decelerated tumor progression, and prolonged life in lab and animal experiments.  Some nanorobots are designed to self-destruct after completing their mission, preventing accumulation in the body and protecting healthy cells. For example, researchers at Karolinska Institutet developed DNA nanorobots that release a hidden therapeutic agent only in the tumor microenvironment, effectively killing cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.

What Stands Between Research and Clinics

Nanorobots show great promise, but several challenges remain before they can be used in hospitals. They need to be completely safe and biocompatible, ensuring they don’t harm healthy cells. Manufacturing them is complex and costly, requiring advanced technology. On top of that, thorough clinical testing and regulatory approval will take time before patients can benefit from this innovative approach.

Hope on the Horizon

Nanorobots could make cancer treatment more intelligent and compassionate. They bring medicine to where it is needed most, they decrease side effects, and they also make patients recover quickly. As India continues to advance research in this area, nanorobots could, in the near future, make the treatment of cancer more focused.