Algae microbots increase drug penetration 10x in bladder cancer

Tiny algae-based robots guided by magnets could improve bladder cancer treatment by boosting delivery of chemotherapy drugs into tumours, researchers say.  

Tracked using real-time imaging, the miniature robots help drugs penetrate deep into tumour tissue while limiting damage to healthy cells.  

In lab tests with mice, the approach increased drug penetration by more than 10 times compared with the standard treatment method. After one week of therapy, tumour burden was reduced to less than 3% of that seen in the conventional treatment group.  

Experts say the technology could improve the efficiency of local chemotherapy delivery, as bladder cancer drugs often struggle to penetrate deeply into the tumour tissue. 

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Xiamen University in China developed biohybrid magnetic microbots engineered from natural microalgae to overcome this challenge. 

The single-celled algae are biocompatible and biodegradable, allowing them to be used safely in the body, and their delicate nanoporous structure is well suited for secure packaging and controlled release of drugs. They are also abundant in nature, cost-effective and suitable for scalable production, researchers say. 

The microbots are loaded with the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin and guided towards tumours using externally programmed magnetic fields. 

Using real-time ultrasound imaging feedback, researchers can precisely control how the swarm of drug-loaded robots move inside the bladder, causing them to roll and rotate to switch between transport and release modes for targeted drug delivery. 

Study co-lead Dr Qi Zhou, Lecturer in Biomedical Informatics at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research, said: “Our microrobots are engineered from tablet-like microalgae, can be remotely guided to the tumour using real-time imaging feedback, and release drugs exactly where they are needed to drive rapid tissue penetration in a minimally invasive way.” 

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