DNA nanostructure-based drug delivery nanosystems in cancer therapy

•The DNA nanostructure can serve as efficient carrier in anticancer drug delivery.•Different types of DNA nanostructure-based anticancer drug delivery nanosystems are reviewed and summarized.•Active targeting, mutidrug co-delivery and construction of stimuli-responsive/intelligent nanosystems are classified.

DNA as a novel biomaterial can be used to fabricate different kinds of DNA nanostructures based on its principle of GC/AT complementary base pairing. Studies have shown that DNA nanostructure is a nice drug carrier to overcome big obstacles existing in cancer therapy such as systemic toxicity and unsatisfied drug efficacy. Thus, different types of DNA nanostructure-based drug delivery nanosystems have been designed in cancer therapy. To improve treating efficacy, they are also developed into more functional drug delivery nanosystems. In recent years, some important progresses have been made. The objective of this review is to make a retrospect and summary about these different kinds of DNA nanostructure-based drug delivery nanosystems and their latest progresses: (1) active targeting; (2) mutidrug co-delivery; (3) construction of stimuli-responsive/intelligent nanosystems.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (150KB)Download full-size image