Application Progress of DNA Nanostructures in Drug Delivery and Smart Drug Carriers

The nanocarrier systems have been widely used for improving solubility, stability and therapeutic activity of drugs due to their high drug-loading efficiency, good target specificity and long circulation time. To achieve precisely controlled loading and tumor-selective release of drugs, extensive researches have been focused on developing nanocarriers with low toxicity, excellent biocomapatibility and biodegradability. As a type of nano-biomaterials with various functions and applications, self-assembled DNA nanostructures explored new ways to develop drug carriers in smart drug delivery based on their well-defined structures, good biocompatibility and stability, high cell membrane permeability and controlled drug releasing property. In this review, we summarized the developing course and the recent advances of DNA nanostructures for drug delivery, including the application of both static and dynamic DNA nanostructures. The application of dynamic DNA nanostructures for controllable drug release showed great potential in smart drug delivery.