Recent Advances in DNA Nanostructure‐enabled Drug Delivery

Abstract The unique physicochemical properties of DNA molecules allow them to be used as self‐assembling motifs for the construction of DNA nanostructures with the merits of shape designability, precise addressability, structural dynamic stimuli‐responsiveness, and superb biocompatibility. After loading therapeutical payloads, current DNA nanostructures were able to deliver them to diseased tissues and cells in a targeted manner, and release them responsively, as well as increase the cellular uptake of the payloads. In this review, we investigate the utility of typical DNA nanostructures in the development of the state‐of‐the‐art drug delivery systems, highlighting the key technological aspects in the transportation of payloads of different chemical categories, i. e., small molecules, oligonucleotides and peptides/proteins. Meanwhile, their implementation in various therapeutic modalities was surveyed, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, protein therapy, photothermal and photodynamic therapy. And finally, possible challenges and future perspective are discussed for further developments.