Running head: USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

Celine Fernandez
Cristan Ellison
Nanotechnology
3/25/2015

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

Use of Nanobots to Treat Cancer

Nanobots are microscopic robots which are under study to be used to deliver drugs into
the body of a human being. Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at a scale
that is molecular.This process would be done with a lot of precision which would reduce the
collateral damage from happening to healthy tissue and would signify a great step forward in
cancer therapy. The idea of nanotechnology was first mentioned to Richard Feynman by his
graduate student Albert Hibbs in the 1950s (Abeer, 2012). Hibbs proposed that one day;
machines would be reduced in much smaller sizes and ingested to repair body tissues and
ailments.
They would be numerous in numbers because of their microscopic size. There would be
two types of these microscopic repair machines; those capable of replicating and those that did
not. The first individuals to make practical advancements in the sector on nanotechnology were
Gerd Binning and Heinrich Rohrer in 1981 that developed a scanning tunneling microscope. In
1986, Christopher Gerber, Binning and Calvin Quate developed the first microscope that was
called the atomic force microscope in 1986. In 1989, Don Eilger who was an IBM researcher
became the first individual who manipulated atoms by using the scanning tunneling microscope.

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

This is an image of the tip of an atomic force (AFM) which has the ability to manipulate
molecules. A platinum electrode measuring one hundredth of a nanometer has been inserted on
the tip of the pyramid using focused ion beam deposition. It is also a depiction of the method of
deposition of the Nanobots in a humans body to fight cancerous cells.
The Biology behind This Treatment
The fundamental concept in biology about Nanobots in terms of biology is that the
enzyme responsive drug delivery system is based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles for tumor
therapy in vivo. This was in order to reduce the toxic side-effects of traditional
chemotherapeutics in vivo. The metalloproteinases (MMP) substrate peptide which contains a
chemical that is sensitive to MMP was immobilized into the amino-functionalized MSN surface
through an amidation reaction that served as a sensitive intermediate linker. With addition of

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

several other compatible elements, a series of characterization revealed that the system was
successfully constructed. The peptide functionalized MSN showed very high sensitivity to
MMPs. This was because it triggered drug delivery which showed potential importance for
tumor therapy due to the tumors naturally micro-environmental expressed MMP. The in vivo
experiments showed that it was possible to inhibit tumor growth withminimal side-effects. The
study also gives a particular approach for the upcoming of a future generation of
nanotherapeutics toward effective treatment of cancer.
The enhancement of cytotoxicity of artemisinin toward cancer cells by transferringmediated carbon nanotubes nanoparticles. Abstract Artemisinin (ART) is a drug that has an
endoperoxide bridge. It tends to react with (FE+2) which leads to the generation of radicals for
killing cancer cells. In this study, a multi-functional targeting tumors drug delivery system is
employed. It involves the use of hyaluronic acid-reprivatized multi walled carbon nanotubes
which act as drug carriers. Transferring acts as targeting ligand and ART as a model drug for
cancer treatment. This delivery system retained optical properties of multi-walled carbon
nanotubes and cytotoxicity of ART. It also displayed synergistic anti-tumor effect using ART and
Transferrin. Laser irradiation of this method demonstrated a high inhibition effect of the tumor
compared to other methods. The result could provide a new method of using promising natural
drugs for cancer therapy Zhang (Micaela et al, 2010).
Biomimetrics
Biomimetrics is the emulation of models and systems of naturally occurring elements in order to
solve complex biological problems (Corner and Bailey, 2008). In the research, the scientists
developing the nanobot are emulated bacterial organisms that have thrived in the human body to

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

understand how they move, and design a similar nanobot locomotion system. By emulating
pathogens that exist at the cellular level, it is possible to design an automated nanobot
locomotion system
Application of Nanorobots in treating cancer
Cancer can be treated and successfully managed using the present-day stages of therapy
techniques and medical technology. However, a crucial factor when establishing the chances of
survival for a patient diagnosed with the disease is how early (stage) it was diagnosed and the
means, if possible, the cancer can be detected before the initiation of metastasis. The other
important phase to achieve when treating patients is developing a drug delivery program that
focused on decreasing the side effects of chemotherapy. Nanorobots have unique properties in
navigation whereby they achieve this as bloodborne devices. This makes them very helpful in
such crucial aspects of cancer therapy. Once chemical biosensors get embedded to nanorobots,
they can be used to detect tumor cells in early development stages inside the body of the patient.
This can also be stimulated by using integrated nanosensors so as to find the concentration of
signals. This is how a hardware architecture based on nanobioelectronics is recommended for the
application of nanorobots in cancer therapy. Conclusions and analyses for the proposed model
can be obtained by means of real time 3D simulation. The robots in this technology can either be
used as part of the chemotherapy treatment or could directly attack tumors using microwaves,
lasers or ultrasonic signals (Cavalcanti et al, 2013).
Current research involving the topic on Nanobots being used in the treatment of cancer.

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

According to researchers, DNA Nanobots will start being tried to seriously ill patients
who are suffering from leukemia. An injection of DNA Nanobots will be given to a patient with
terminal leukemia and in the process therewill be no collateral damage in their health tissue as
has been in the case with use of other cancer treatments. Bachelet together wt his team of
professionals have alreadytested their procedure in soil cultures a live animals. They have also
written two papers on the subject; one is on science while the other is on nature. If the approach
by Bachelet is a success in the human body, and more research in the following years backs up
his work, then cancer treatment will experience a total transformation (Abeer, 2012).
The scientists hope to achieve a treatment that does not lead to a patients tissues being
damaged. The current contemporary therapiesfor cancer involve insidious surgery and many
strong drugs which may lead to pain and the damaging of the body as if it is the disease itself.
This sort of struggle is what Bachelets team hope to eliminate. Another challenge affecting this
technology is that the collection of diverse nanorobots with one another is a harmful process. The
cost of installation and maintenance is high and is also difficult, considering the complexity of
the technology.
Should this process prove successful, the society will be positively affected in that those
who suffer from cancer will have hope of a treatment that is painless and effective. Many have to
watch their friends and relatives suffer under treatments such as chemotherapy. Sometimes, they
do not survive this procedure and give in to the disease and the struggles that come with the
treatment. The success of this research will be a turning point in the treatment of cancer and
progress in the hope for the Nanobots being used as treatment for many more diseases that have
been tormenting the society (Micaela et al, 2010).

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

Recommendations
One of the most important considerations, according to experts on this technology, is that
key issues in design are addressed. For example, researchers have established that chemical
signaling devices is a top subject affecting design, and should be incorporated into the
architecture model for manufacturing nanorobots. It is also recommended that better time
responses should be achieved to aid in the detection of tumors. This can be accomplished if
communication capabilities are applied as a means of the nanorobot control technology. In
addition, the coordination and orientation of nanorobots can be achieved using the follow
gradient with the attractant signal. The follow gradient has been established to ensure a better
performance for nanorobots when detecting and accessing cancerous targets.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the present-day approaches for diagnosing and treating cancer are still
limited significantly to radiation, surgical resection and chemotherapy. These traditional
techniques are nonspecific, exceedingly invasive, and often associated with traumatic side effects
as well as toxicity, to not only affected tumor cells but also healthy cells. The achievements and
promises of nanorobots and nanotechnology in the treatment of cancer have great potential to
achieve these setbacks. The future of this technology is bright for targeted cancer therapy. This
paper has revealed that nanorobots are able to achieve diagnosis, detection, imaging, transporting
as well as the control of drug release. This enables them to promote tumor cell destruction that is

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

target specific, thereby allowing for better and more sensitive diagnosis, early detection, together
with greater efficacy for lower drug concentrations.

USE OF NANOBOTS TO TREAT CANCER

References
Abeer, S. (2012) Future Medicine: nanomedicine.Scientometrics, 85(2), 595-611.
Cavalcanti, A., Bijan S., Tad H., and Smith, J. Raza, H., &Raza, T. Z. (2013).Hardware
architecture for nanorobot Application in Cancer Therapy.Journal of Nano
Education, 4(1-2), 41-46.
Corner, Jessica, and Christopher Bailey. Cancer Nursing. Oxford: Blackwell Pub., 2008.
Micaela, V. Silva, A. and Lopes, C. (2010).The Role of Nanotechnology in Cancer Treatment
and Diagnosis. Journal of Nano Education, 5(1), 5-16.