August 12, 2024

Rachel Truong 

11th Grade

Fountain Valley High School

Imagine being connected to a machine that pumps chemotherapy drugs into your veins. For days. For months. For years. You’re beginning to realize that maybe– just maybe– cancer will continue to thrive inside you. According to the 2020 WHO Global Health Estimates, cancers affecting the respiratory system are “ranked 6th among leading causes of death”. While cancer can be cured when detected early, it’s a complicated process for more severe stages. Various treatments such as radiation therapy often have cytotoxic side effects. These harmful side effects could last for a long time even after killing the cancerous cells because cytotoxic drugs also damage healthy cells. But there’s hope. In the past decade, researchers have made significant developments in an emerging technology– nanobots. With these new developments in nanotechnology, doctors can integrate a more cost-effective procedure for treating cancer.

“Nano” means “dwarf” in Greek, and nanobots are around 10-9 meters (0.000000001 meters). The concept of nanotechnology existed long before the 20th century in medieval church windows, the Lycurgus cup, Michael Faraday’s 1857 observation of the colloidal suspensions of “Ruby” gold, etc. Before the mid-20th century, barriers such as the unavailability of tools and insufficient research hindered the development of nanotechnology. But inspiration for modern nanotechnology can be accredited to Richard Feynman’s 1959 lecture “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”. Feynman described the possibilities of shrinking a substance to a molecular level and how it could maneuver and function better than a standard-sized substance would. K. Eric Drelxer, author of Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, also made significant contributions in molecular nanotechnology. In his 1986 book, he extended Feynman’s concept by recognizing the potential that nanobots could have in arranging atoms to create structures or products with the precision essential to fields such as medicine and electronics.

The application of nanotechnology in the medical field is called nanomedicine. Although nanomedicine is still in its nascent stages, numerous applications have been developed, ranging from drug delivery to genetic therapy. In the 21st century, research and development in nanomedicine has been more active in oncology to provide a more effective and precise way to target cancerous cells. Here, the medical nanobot emerges as the biggest player on the field. Nanobots can be inserted into the body via intravenous injection into the bloodstream or by mouth. They are programmed to do a variety of tasks such as delivering and accurately administering a precise dose of anticancer medication to cancerous cells, gathering data about latent tumors, manipulating biomolecules, and even killing cancerous cells. Because of their tiny size, nanobots can navigate through the environment of the body on a cellular level. But don’t worry about whether or not they’ll clank in your body. These mini bots are made of materials that can be broken down by microorganisms or can coexist with organisms without having a negative effect. The antibodies they carry can detect unhealthy cells, helping nanobots to identify their targets more effectively. While there are various types of nanobots programmed to do different tasks, they each work together to improve treatment efficiency.

Cancer remains an active threat to global health which stresses the urgency and need for more efficient cancer treatments. With one step at a time, nanobots could revolutionize the medical field. These bots could prove to be a new and better mode of drug delivery because of its precision in targeting unhealthy cells as well as serve as an internal monitor for early detection and diagnosis of tumors. Nanobots could address some of the limitations traditional medicine fails to deal with. They could deliver and control the dosage of multiple drugs, ultimately reducing harmful side effects, whereas traditional combined therapy involving multiple drugs and procedures could take longer and be a complicated process. The future of nanobots in treating cancer and other illnesses is promising. Dr. Jack Jacoub, medical oncologist and director of MemorialCare Cancer Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center, provides his perspective on nanobots, saying, “Over the next few years, you’ll see a movement away from the term [chemotherapy] even. It has a lot of connotations for both physicians and patients. We’re entering a totally different era”. Even outside the medical field, nanobots have the potential to lead to many ground-breaking discoveries that could impact many aspects of life like energy, environment, and even space. With the prospect of nanobots, there’s hope for fighting all stages of cancer.