(164b) DNA Nanotechnology, a Promising Tool to Target Cancer

DNA is a popular material for constructing complex, multi-dimensional nanostructures due to its ability to organize in a precise and predictable manner. Popular approaches to create nanostructures from DNA include DNA origami, DNA tile and DNA brick assembly. An alternate approach to direct the assembly of single-stranded (ssDNA) is to conjugate a hydrophobic moiety (i.e., polymer or lipid-like tail) to the ssDNA to form an amphiphilic molecule that spontaneously self-assembles when added to aqueous solutions. However, this approach has not yet been used to create nanostructures with similar levels of complexity as those achieved by other amphiphiles. To date, the majority of structures created by the assembly of ssDNA-amphiphiles have been only spherical and cylindrical micelles. Our group showed that DNA nanotubes could be created by using molecular self-assembly of ssDNA-amphiphiles. In this presentation I will discuss how we design ssDNA-amphiphiles that self-assemble into supramolecular nanostructures with non-spherical geometries, such as ssDNA nanotubes, and how we use these ssDNA nanotubes to target glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common form of primary brain cancer, in vitro and in vivo in an orthotopic mouse model of GBM.