Progress in the development of carbon nanotubes as drug delivery carrier combined with thermotherapy in cancer therapy / 国际生物医学工程杂志

ABSTRACT

Most of the anticancer drugs have some limitations in clinical application,such as poor solubility,low targeting and cytotoxicity to normal tissue and organ.The application of drug carriers offers a solution of these problems to a certain extent.In recent years,some materials such as polymers,liposomes,carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used as carriers of anticancer drugs.The utilization of these carriers improved drug targeting and reduced adverse reactions by targeted modification of carriers which ensured the slow release of the drugs and maintained the plasma concentration.In these carriers,CNTs,as a novel nano-material,have attracted more attention in nanomedical applications.CNTs not only possess nanoscaled diameter,hollow structure and large aspect ratio,resulting in large drug capacity,but also can selectively absorb near infrared lights and transform them into thermal energy,according to the research finding.The functionalized drug-loaded CNTs in combination with thermotherapy shows potential,which is expected to become a new targeting therapy of cancer.In this paper,the basic structure of CNTs,the application of CNTs as drug carriers,and the recent development of functionalized CNTs as drug carriers combined with thermotherapy in tumor therapy were summarized.