DNA–Polyelectrolyte Composite Responsive Microparticles for Versatile Chemotherapeutics Cleaning

Drug therapy is among the most widely used methods in disease treatment. However, there remains a trade-off problem between drug dosage and toxicity. Blood purification by adsorption of excessive drugs during clinical treatment could be a solution for enhancing therapeutic efficacy while maintaining normal body function. Here, inspired by the intrinsic action mechanism of chemotherapeutic agents in targeting DNA in the cell nucleus, we present DNA-polyelectrolyte composite responsive microparticles for chemotherapeutics cleaning. The presence of DNA in the microparticles enabled the adsorption of multiple common chemotherapy drugs. Moreover, the microparticles are endowed with a porous structure and a photothermal-responsive ability, both of which contribute to improved adsorption by enhancing the contact of the microparticles with the drug solution. On the basis of that, the microparticles are integrated into a herringbone-structured microfluidic chip. The fluid mixing capacity and the enhanced drug cleaning efficiency of the microfluidic platform are validated on-chip. These results indicate the value of the DNA-polyelectrolyte composite responsive microparticles for drug capture and blood purification. We believe the microparticle-integrated microfluidic platform could provide a solution for settling the dosage-toxicity trade-off problems in chemotherapy.