Novel Drug Nanocarriers for Cancer Therapy: Carbon Nanotubes

Prevalent cancer therapies generally fail due to the improvement of the multidrug resistance, resulting in poor patient prognosis and high morbidity. Nano-sized drug delivery systems provide opportunities to deliver and target the anti-cancer molecules selectively to cancer cells. Among the various nano-sized drug carriers, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have captivated the significant interest due to their versatile functionalization chemistry, unique physical characteristics, high specific surface area, biological compatibility and capability to pass the biological membranes of the cells. These characteristics offer an opportunity for the treatment of various types of cancer. In this review, the current state of the art applications of CNTs in cancer therapy as a novel drug delivery system will be evaluated. The main types and the structures of CNTs and also, functionalization strategies and cellular uptake mechanisms will be summarized in a general perspective. The potential clinical utilization of CNTs in cancer treatment will be discussed at a level of scientific research platform. International Journal of Pharma Sciences and Scientific Research Citation: Ceyda Tuba Sengel-Turk, Novel Drug Nanocarriers Cancer Therapy: Carbon Nanotubes. Int J Pharm Sci & Scient Res.1:1, 16-19. Copyright: © Ceyda Tuba Sengel Turk. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Received January 04, 2016; Accepted January 05, 2016 ; Published January 09, 2016