Professors Jongbeom Lee and Inhee Choi developed DNA based cancer phototherapy
- Bio-derived DNA can be used to develop highly efficient photothermal anticancer drugs
- Published online in <ACS NANO>, an international journal of materials and chemistry (Impact factor:17.1)
A research team led by Prof. Lee Jong-beom of the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Seoul (President Won Yong-gul), in collaboration with Prof. Choi In-hee of the Department of Life Sciences at University of Seoul, Prof. Jin Jun-oh of Seoul Asan Medical Center, and Prof. Hong Jin-ki of Yonsei University, succeeded in producing DNA, a biopolymer, using polymerase-based mass synthesis technology and applying it to photothermal chemotherapy through DNA-gold particle hybrid structures.
The team produced particles using DNA, a biopolymer with few side effects in vivo, and grew gold particles on its surface to apply it to photothermal chemotherapy technology that kills cancer cells by converting external energy into heat. This allows for a high concentration of gold particles to be present locally, resulting in a more efficient photothermal treatment effect compared to the photothermal effect that can be obtained from existing individual gold particles.
Team Prof. Lee said "This is an example of applying DNA, a biopolymer, to the formation of metal particles and applying it to next-generation photothermal therapy materials. It is a successful result of growing various metal ions into metal nanoparticles on the surface of DNA particles, and among them, gold particles were used to secure effective photothermal effects.“
▲ (From left to right) Professor Lee Jong-beom, University of Seoul, Professor Jin Jun-oh, Seoul Asan Medical Center, Professor Hong Jin-ki, Yonsei University, Professor Choi In-hee, University of Seoul and Dr. Da-jung Kim, University of Seoul
The study was led by Dr. Da-Jung Kim (first author) and Professors Jong-Beom Lee, Jun-Oh Jin, Jinki Hong, and In-Hee Choi. The study, titled "Multimodal Golden DNA Superstructures (GDSs) for Highly Efficient Photothermal Immunotherapy," was published online in ACS NANO (Impact factor:17.1), an international journal of materials and chemistry published by the American Chemical Society.
This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)'s Project, Gene Editing Control and Restoration Technology Development Project, and Leading Convergence Technology Development Project for Brain Science.
