What are carbon nanotubes’ roles in anti-tumor therapies?

Abstract

Since their discovery, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have become one of the most promising nanomaterials in many industrial and biomedical applications. Due to their unique physicochemical properties, CNTs have been proposed and actively exploited as multipurpose innovative carriers for cancer therapy. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the status of applications, advantages, and up-to-date research and development of carbon nanotubes in cancer therapy with an emphasis on drug delivery, photothermal therapy, gene therapy, RNAi, and immune therapy. In addition, the issues of risk and safety of CNTs in cancer nanotechnology are discussed briefly.

Preparation, Characterization, andIn VitroandVivoAntitumor Activity of Oridonin-Conjugated Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Functionalized with Carboxylic Group

“…Carbon nanotube-based drug delivery has shown a promise in tumor-targeted accumulation in mice, and the system exhibits good biocompatibility, good excretability, and little toxicity. Various chemotherapeutic reagents have been demonstrated to have increased efficiency after being chemically linked to CNTs [15]. When antitumor reagent 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) was linked to MWNTs covalently through a cleavable ester linkage using hydrophilic diaminotriethyleneglycol as the spacer between the nanotube and drug moieties, the obtained MWNT-HCPT conjugates were found to be superior to the clinical HCPT formulation in antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo [16].…”

Can amino-functionalized carbon nanotubes carry functional nerve growth factor?

“…Aminization maintains the benefits of CNTs, such as solubility, biocompatibility, high reactivity, and low toxicity. The amino terminals can form covalent bonds with a variety of polymers and biologically active substances, which makes CNTs very promising in the pharmaceutical field[ 18 19 20 21 22 ]. Coccini et al[ 23 24 ] found that aminized multiwalled CNTs (MWCNT) exhibited improved solubility and dispersity, decreased toxicity to human A549 and D384 cells, and decreased aggregation.…”

“…Thus, repeated administration of NGF is required to maintain an effective concentration, which seriously restricts any clinical application of NGF. Functionalized CNTs can be used as slow-release carriers for chemical drugs, DNA, and proteins[ 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 ]. Kam et al[ 42 ] demonstrated that when aminized CNTs were connected to fluorescent biotin-streptavidin and the complexes were incubated with HL60 cells, strong anti-biotin streptavidin fluorescent signals were found in tumor cells, suggesting CNTs can carry macromolecular proteins into cells.…”

Photothermal effects of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on the viability of BT-474 cancer cells

“…Many published articles have stated that carbon materials could play a major role in the development of new anticancer therapies [5][6][7]. In addition, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess strong optical absorption in the near infrared (NIR) region and convert the absorbed light into heat, which provides the opportunity to create a new generation of immunoconjugates for cancer photothermal therapy.…”