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Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 9114–9117 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

NCNN 2017

Application of Nanorobotics for Cancer Treatment

Ramna Tripathi and Akhilesh Kumar*
Department of Physics, THDC- Institute of Hydropower Engineering and Technology
B. Puram, Tehri, Uttarakhand, India
*Department of Physics, Govt. Girls College, Rajajipuram, Lucknow, UP, India

Abstract
Nanorobotics is an emerging field of nanotechnology which deals with design and construction of devices at an atomic,
molecules or cellular level. These hypothetical nanorobots will be extremely small and would transverse inside the human blood.
As these nanorobots would have special sensors to detect the target molecules, it can be programmed to diagnosis and treat fatal
diseases. Application of nanorobots in the treatment of cancer is one of the fascinating fields of research. According to a report
by World Health Organisation (WHO), there were 8.2 million deaths in the year 2012 by cancer worldwide. In 2015 there were
11,48,692 cases of cancer in India. The present methods for the treatment of cancer are not that effective as 99% of
chemotherapy drugs do not reach the cancer cells. However nanorobots which are roughly 100 times smaller than human tissues
could do this and hence creates a huge area for exploration in the field of biomedical research. As scientists predict in coming
years cancer will be chronic but manageable disease.

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of 6th NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NANOMATERIALS AND
NANOTECHNOLOGY (NCNN VI - 2017 ).

Keywords: Nanorobotics; Cancer; Chemotherapy; Biomedical

*Email address: drakhilesh26@gmail.com

2214-7853 © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of 6th NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NANOMATERIALS AND
NANOTECHNOLOGY (NCNN VI - 2017 )
 Ramna Tripathi and Akhilesh Kumar Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 9114–9117 9115

1.0 Introduction

Nanorobotics is the emerging technology. It deals with creating machines or robots whose component are at or close
to microscopic scale of a nanometre (10-9 meters). More specifically, nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnology
engineering discipline of designing and building nanorobots, with device ranging in size from 0.110 micrometers
and constructed of molecular components [1]. The name nanobots, nanoids, nanites, nanomachines or nanomites
have also been used to describe these devices under research and development. Another definition is a robot that
allows precision interactions with nanoscale objects, or can manipulate with nanoscale resolution. Nanobot consist
of two words Nano and Bots [2]. Nano is a prefix meaning extremely small and Bot is a short for robot. Nanobot are
therefore a tiny robot that we would need a microscope to see. In the other words we can say nanotechnology is the
study, design, creation, synthesis, manipulation and application of materials, devices and systems at the nanometer
scale. It is becoming increasingly important in fields like engineering, agriculture, construction, microelectronics
and health care [3].

There are two basic kinds of nanobots; assemblers and self-replicators. Assemblers are simple cell-shaped nanobots
that are able to interpret molecules or atoms of different types, and are controlled by specific specialised programs.
Self-replicators are fundamentally assemblers that are capable of duplicating themselves at a very large, fast rate; it
is this sort of duplication that aids the construction of large-scale applications or deployment of nanobots for large-
scale tasks [4].
The application of nanotechnology in the field of health care has come under great attention in recent times. There
are many treatments today that take a lot time and are also very expensive. Alternative to those treatments could be
nanotechnology, as quicker and cheaper treatments can be developed for fatal diseases. As nanites are much smaller
than human tissues thus they create possibilities of treatment of cancer. Cancer is a group of diseases involving
abnormal cell growth with the potential of spreading to other parts of the body. Not all tumors are cancerous; benign
tumors do not spread to other parts of the body. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding,
prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss and a change in bowel movements. While these symptoms may indicate
cancer, they may have other cause. Cancer affected cells form a subset of neoplasm. A neoplasm or tumor is a group
of cells that have undergone unregulated growth and will often form a mass or lump, but may be distributed
diffusely [5].

All tumor cells show the six hallmarks of cancer. These characteristics are required to produce a malignant tumor.
They include [5]

 Cell growth and division absent the proper signals.

 Continuous growth and division even given contrary signals.
 Avoidance of programmed cell death.
 Limitless number of cell divisions.
 Promoting blood vessel construction.
 Invasion of tissue and formation of metastases.

Most nanobots structurally consist of a sensing agent and a payload. The sensing agent could be one or more
chemical strands, each of which are activated by a distinct feature in the targeted cell. Similar to AND logic gates,
when all the sensing agents are activated, the nanobots delivers the payload to the targeted cell. Further, the payload
could consist of a drug or a fluorescent tag, depending on the application, viz. treatment or detection. Since these
molecular delivery trucks can be programmed to release their payload only when the targeted cell is in correct
diseased state, they achieve a specificity that few other treatment techniques can match.

2.0 Fabrication of nanobots

A current focus of nanorobotics is on the fabrication of nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS), which may serve as
components for future nanorobots. The main goals of nanorobotics are to provide effective tools for the
experimental exploration of the nanoworld, and to push the boundaries of this exploration from a robotics research
9116 Ramna Tripathi and Akhilesh Kumar / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 9114–9117

perspective. The vision is to develop intelligent nanorobots that can be injected into the subsurface (reservoir) and
possibly be steered from the surface [1].

3.0 3D Printing

3D printing is the process by which a three-dimensional structure is built through the various processes of additive
manufacturing. Nanoscale 3D printing involves many of the same process, incorporated at a much smaller scale. In
order to print a structure in the 5-400 µm scale, the precision of the 3D printing machine is improved greatly [7].

4.0 3D Printing and Laser Etching

A technique pioneered in Seoul, South Korea utilizes a two-step process of 3D Printing, utilizing a 3D printing and
laser etched plates. In order to be more precise at a nanoscale, the 3D printing process utilizes a laser etching
machine, which etches into each plate the details required for the segment of nanorobots [7]. The plate is then
transferred over to the 3D printer, which fills the etched regions with the desired nanoparticle. The 3D printing
process is repeated until the nanorobot is built from the bottom up. This 3D printing process has many benefits.
First, it increases the overall accuracy of the printing process. Second, it has the potential to create functional
segments of a nanorobot.

5.0 Two-Photon Lithography

The 3D printer uses a liquid resin, which is hardened at precisely the correct spots by a focused laser beam. The
focal point of the laser beam is guided through the resin by movable mirrors and leaves behind a hardened line of
solid polymer, just a few hundred nanometers wide. This fine resolution enables the creation of intricately structured
sculptures as tiny as a grain of sand. This process takes place by using photoactive resins, which are hardened by the
laser at an extremely small scale to create the structure. This process is quick compared to nanoscale 3D printing
standards []. Ultra-small features can be made with the 3D micro-fabrication technique used in multi-photon photo-
polymerization. This approach uses a focused laser to trace the desired 3D object into a block of gel. Due to the
nonlinear nature of photo excitation, the gel is cured to a solid only in the places where the laser was focused while
the remaining gel is then washed away. Feature sizes of fewer than 100 nm are easily produced, as well as complex
structures with moving and interlocked parts.

6.0 Application

Cancer can be successfully treated with current stages of medical technologies and therapy tools with the help of the
nanorobotics. Determine the decisive factor to chances for a patient with cancer to survive is: how earlier it was
diagnosed; another important aspect to achieve a successful treatment for patients is the development of efficient
targeted drug delivery to decrease the side effects from chemotherapy [8].

Considering the properties of nano robots to navigate as blood borne devices, they can help on such extremely
important aspects of cancer therapy. Nanorobots with embedded chemical biosensors can be used to perform
detection of tumor cells in early stages of development inside the patient’s body. Integrated nano sensors can be
utilized for such a task in order to find intensity of Ecadherin signals. Therefore a hardware architecture based on
nano bioelectronics is described for the application of nanorobots for cancer therapy [9]. The scientists have
genetically modified salmonella bacteria that are drawn to tumors by chemicals secreted by cancers cells. The
bacteria carry microscopic robots, about 3 micrometers in size that automatically release capsules filled with drugs
when the bacteria reach the tumor. By delivering drugs directly to the tumor, the nanorobot, which the team named
bacteriobot, attacks the tumor while leaving healthy cells alone, sparing the patient from the side effects of
chemotherapy. Bactiriobot can only detect tumor forming cancers, such as breast cancers and colorectal, but the
nanorobot will eventually be able to treat other cancers as well. [8]. A decisive factor to determine the chances for a
patient with cancer to survive is: how earlier it was diagnosed; what means, if possible, a cancer should be detected
at least before the metastasis has began. Another important aspect to achieve a successful treatment for patients is
the development of efficient targeted drug delivery to decrease the side effects from chemotherapy. Considering the
 Ramna Tripathi and Akhilesh Kumar Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 9114–9117 9117

properties of nanorobots to navigate as blood borne devices, they can help on such extremely important aspects of
cancer therapy. [10].

Cancer treatment modalities using macroscopic drug delivery methods like chemotherapy, thermal-therapy and to an
extent radiotherapy have had high cure rates but are often accompanied by severe side effects. For instance
Chemotherapy uses chemicals, which selectively kill rapidly diving cells. Although a lot of varieties of cancer
exhibit this feature, healthy cells like in hair, bone marrow and digestive tract, are also fatally affected. Recent
breakthrough in targeted treatment for deadly diseases have led to the invention of molecular machines, called
Nanorobots [6].

Introduction of Nanorobots in controlled and targeted drug delivery has revolutionized medicine with special
interest in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Nanorobots, unlike their macro or even milli counterparts are not actually
machines with moving parts and conventional control systems with microprocessors. Rather these are made with
organic material and intelligence is programmed into the units via genetic modification of their building blocks.

Several classes of nanorobots have been invented lately. Douglas et al. devised a DNA based nanorobot tested on a
species each of lymphoma and leukemia. These devices were made of a series of DNA strands linked in 2D chains
and thereby folded into 3D structures, that could selectively open and close. Each bot carries two molecular
payloads: a gold nanoshell and an antibody fragment. There is a DNA hinge at one end and a DNA latch on the
other. The sensing agent is called an Aptamer, a molecule that recognizes the surface of a particular cancer cell.
Upon recognition, the container dissolves, and payload penetrates the diseased cell initiating a self-destruct sequence
in the cell.

7.0 Future scope

A similar breakthrough was made by Park et al concurrently in Korea called Bacteriobot, where non-toxic bacteria,
salmonella in this case, are genetically modified to attract chemicals released by cancer cells. These nanobots
actively seek cancer cells and deliver drugs to them. The bacteria are engineered to have receptors, which bind to
biochemicals secreted by diseased tissue; thus allowing the bacteria to diagnose cancer, and move towards the cell
using flagella. Currently this technique is limited to detecting solid cancers like in breast or colorectal tumors, but it
has potential to treat other tumors as well.

Nanorobots have been shown to have high potential in-vitro experiments. Next steps would be scaling these devices
for in-vivo testing in mice and human tissue. In-vitro testing in Petri dishes already required 100 billion devices,
which would scale to several trillions for these to be feasible cancer treatment modalities. Nonetheless the positive
results in nanorobots have brought in new hope to cancer research.

References

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