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

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]