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Preparation of tumor targeting cell-based microrobots carrying NIR light sensitive therapeutics manipulated by electromagnetic actuating system and Chemotaxis

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Abstract

In the present work, we prepare and evaluate a cell-based microrobot for active drug delivery to tumors. The microrobots are fabricated using the engulfment activity of immune macrophages with drug-loaded magnetic liposomes (MNP-DLs) via phagocytosis. The synthesized MNP-DLs and the microrobots have high energy absorbance to NIR light with increased drug release rate after laser irradiation. The tumor killing ability of the prepared microrobots is validated on a colorectal cancer cell line. In addition, the active tumor targeting function by an external electromagnetic actuating (EMA) system and chemotaxis is verified. Experiment results show that a single microrobot can be manipulated by the EMA system to obtain the average velocity of approximately 11 μm/s, and the robots can cross the membranes mimicking the blood barrier to tumor chemo-attractants with the infiltration rate up to 74%. Consequently, this study proposes and analyzes an innovative aspect of the developed therapeutic cellular micro-platform for active tumor targeting and externally triggered drug delivery.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Industrial Technology Innovation Program [10060059, Externally Actuatable Nanorobot System for Precise Targeting and Controlled Releasing of Drugs] funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE, Korea) and the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) 2016M3A9E9941514.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Chonnam National University, 77 Yongbong-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, 61186, Republic of Korea

    Van Du Nguyen, Viet Ha Le, Shaohui Zheng & Jong-Oh Park

  2. Medical Microrobot Center (MRC) and Robot Research Initiative, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-480, Republic of Korea

    Van Du Nguyen, Jiwon Han & Jong-Oh Park

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  1. Van Du Nguyen
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  2. Viet Ha Le
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  3. Shaohui Zheng
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  4. Jiwon Han
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  5. Jong-Oh Park
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Correspondence to Jiwon Han or Jong-Oh Park.

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Du Nguyen, V., Le, V.H., Zheng, S. et al. Preparation of tumor targeting cell-based microrobots carrying NIR light sensitive therapeutics manipulated by electromagnetic actuating system and Chemotaxis. J Micro-Bio Robot 14, 69–77 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12213-018-0110-5

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