A research team led by Professor Qiang He from the Zhengzhou Research Institute of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) has achieved a major breakthrough in targeted therapy for glioblastoma. Their study, titled "A Self-Homing Liposomal Nanobot for Active Therapy of Glioblastoma", was recently published in Angewandte Chemie.
Inspired by the biochemical gradients within the tumor microenvironment, the team developed a self-homing liposomal nanorobot capable of carrying drugs across the blood–brain barrier, escaping lysosomes, and selectively accumulating in glioblastoma lesions in living animals. This innovation opens new possibilities for the precision treatment of one of the most aggressive types of brain tumors.
Glioblastoma treatment has long been hampered by the dual challenges of the blood–brain barrier and the complex tumor microenvironment, which block most conventional and nanodrug therapies.
Addressing this, the researchers designed Janus-structured nanobots through hierarchical molecular assembly. One side carries an enzyme-driven propulsion module that decomposes endogenous glucose for self-propulsion and directional migration toward tumor sites. The other side, modified with γ-glutamyl groups, targets overexpressed γ-glutamyltransferase on both the blood–brain barrier and tumor cells, enabling transcytosis and efficient lysosomal escape.
Animal experiments showed the nanorobots increased drug delivery efficiency more than fourfold, extended median survival, and demonstrated strong biosafety with low toxicity.
The study pioneers a "using the spear of the microenvironment to break its shield" strategy–utilizing the unique biochemical signals of pathological sites to achieve self-homing and targeted drug release. Beyond glioblastoma, this approach could be extended to other central nervous system diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, offering a new path forward for precision medicine.
Professor Qiang He and Researcher Mingjun Xuan of the Wenzhou Institute UCS are corresponding authors. Doctoral student Yanfang Cheng from HIT's Faculty of Life Science and Medicine is the first author, with Associate Researcher Kangning Zhu from Wenzhou Institute UCS as co-first author. Professor Yingjie Wu and Associate Researcher Meng Mao from HIT's Faculty of Life Science and Medicine, and Researcher Ling Yang from Wenzhou Institute UCS also contributed.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Heilongjiang Provincial Key Research and Development Program.
Link to paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202512948