Oxygen adsorption by carbon nanotubes and its application in radiotherapy

Designing Nanoparticle-based Drug Delivery Systems for Precision Medicine

Traditional drugs are facing bottlenecks of lower solubility, absorption, and especially the inefficient organs or cells targeting during the precision medicine era. It is urgently needed to discover and establish new methods or strategies to modify old drugs or create new ones against the above defects. With the support of nanotechnology, the solubility, absorption and targeting of traditional drugs were greatly improved by modifying and fabricating with various types of nanoparticles to some extent, though many shortages remain. In this mini-review we will focus on advances in several most commonly used nanoparticles, from their nature and design, to drug delivery system and clinical application, that they overcome heterogeneous barriers in precision medicine, thereby ultimately improve patient outcome overall.

Nanoparticles for radiooncology: Mission, vision, challenges

Cancer is one of the leading non-communicable diseases with highest mortality rates worldwide. About half of all cancer patients receive radiation treatment in the course of their disease. However, treatment outcome and curative potential of radiotherapy is often impeded by genetically and/or environmentally driven mechanisms of tumor radioresistance and normal tissue radiotoxicity. While nanomedicine-based tools for imaging, dosimetry and treatment are potential keys to the improvement of therapeutic efficacy and reducing side effects, radiotherapy is an established technique to eradicate the tumor cells. In order to progress the introduction of nanoparticles in radiooncology, due to the highly interdisciplinary nature, expertise in chemistry, radiobiology and translational research is needed. In this report recent insights and promising policies to design nanotechnology-based therapeutics for tumor radiosensitization will be discussed. An attempt is made to cover the entire field from preclinical development to clinical studies. Hence, this report illustrates (1) the radio- and tumor-biological rationales for combining nanostructures with radiotherapy, (2) tumor-site targeting strategies and mechanisms of cellular uptake, (3) biological response hypotheses for new nanomaterials of interest, and (4) challenges to translate the research findings into clinical trials.

Toxicity of single-walled carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are an important class of nanomaterials, which have numerous novel properties that make them useful in technology and industry. Generally, there are two types of CNTs: single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled nanotubes. SWNTs, in particular, possess unique electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties, allowing for a wide range of applications in various fields, including the electronic, computer, aerospace, and biomedical industries. However, the use of SWNTs has come under scrutiny, not only due to their peculiar nanotoxicological profile, but also due to the forecasted increase in SWNT production in the near future. As such, the risk of human exposure is likely to be increased substantially. Yet, our understanding of the toxicological risk of SWNTs in human biology remains limited. This review seeks to examine representative data on the nanotoxicity of SWNTs by first considering how SWNTs are absorbed, distributed, accumulated and excreted in a biological system, and how SWNTs induce organ-specific toxicity in the body. The contradictory findings of numerous studies with regards to the potential hazards of SWNT exposure are discussed in this review. The possible mechanisms and molecular pathways associated with SWNT nanotoxicity in target organs and specific cell types are presented. We hope that this review will stimulate further research into the fundamental aspects of CNTs, especially the biological interactions which arise due to the unique intrinsic characteristics of CNTs.

Advancement in carbon nanotubes: basics, biomedical applications and toxicity

Objectives

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted much attention by researchers worldwide in recent years for their small dimensions and unique architecture, and for having immense potential in nanomedicine as biocompatible and supportive substrates, as a novel tool for the delivery of therapeutic molecules including peptides, RNA and DNA, and also as sensors, actuators and composites.

Key findings

CNTs have been employed in the development of molecular electronic, composite materials and others due to their unique atomic structure, high surface area-to-volume ratio and excellent electronic, mechanical and thermal properties. Recently they have been exploited as novel nanocarriers in drug delivery systems and biomedical applications. Their larger inner volume as compared with the dimensions of the tube and easy immobilization of their outer surface with biocompatible materials make CNTs a superior nanomaterial for drug delivery. Literature reveals that CNTs are versatile carriers for controlled and targeted drug delivery, especially for cancer cells, because of their cell membrane penetrability.

Summary

This review enlightens the biomedical application of CNTs with special emphasis on utilization in controlled and targeted drug delivery, as a diagnostics tool and other possible uses in therapeutic systems. The review also focuses on the toxicity aspects of CNTs, and revealed that genotoxic potential, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of different types of CNTs must be explored and overcome by formulating safe biomaterial for drug delivery. The review also describes the regulatory aspects and clinical and market status of CNTs.