Carbon Nanotubes for Drug Delivery Applications

Abstract

The use of nanomaterials especially carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the field of cancer therapy is developing expeditiously. CNTs have been proved to be of high potential ever since their advent. Due to their variable physicochemical characteristics, they allow covalent and noncovalent addition of certain compounds for the development of novel drug delivery systems. These conjugated compounds tend to enhance the physical and chemical properties of both Single-walled carbon nanotubes and multi-walled carbon nanotubes making them the most effective nanomaterial for chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer. Various anticancer drugs like doxorubicin, paclitaxel, methotrexate, gemcitabine, platinum analogs, etc. were loaded onto the functionalized CNTs for targeted delivery of these drugs to the tumor site. They were found to be capable of repressing certain drawbacks like MDR (multidrug resistance), selectivity, target specificity, drug leakage and serious side effects of the drugs. It was also observed that the proliferation of tumor cells decreased drastically, moreover, the apoptosis of cancer cells was enhanced and extended due to the sustained release of drug(s) from the CNTs and toxic effects of functionalized CNTs. Thus, 162the concept of multifunctional hybrid–CNT was highly acknowledged by researchers and significant studies were conducted to obtain desired results. Therefore, this chapter describes the vivid aspects and properties of CNTs as drug delivery systems for the treatment of different types of cancer.