Mechanical targeting as a novel approach in precision nanomedicine

Designing smart nanoparticles for drug delivery in cancer is a central challenge in precision medicine. While molecular targeting approaches are widely explored for active targeting of drug delivery systems, the effects of physical properties on tissue specificity and targeting is less explored at the single cell level. We show that cancer cell deformability, as well as nanoparticle stiffness, may have a major role in the reciprocal interactions that affect particle uptake and cell specificity. In many cancers it was found that cancer cells are more deformability compared to normal cells in their surrounding and that this deformability is associated with elevated degree of cell malignancy. In our study, using experimental and theoretical approaches we demonstrated that the unique biomechanics of cancer cells can be utilized for cell targeting with nano and micro particles. A wide range of biological assays including and 3D printed organ on chip technologies were used to provide mechanistic insights related to the Triangular Correlation between cancer cell aggressiveness, biomechanics and particle uptake. Furthermore, novel multifunctional nanomaterials designed to remotely actuate drug delivery systems will be presented.