Opportunities and challenges of carbon-based nanomaterials for cancer therapy

Abstract

The possibility of incorporating carbon-based nanomaterials into living systems has opened the way for the investigation of their potential applications in the emerging field of nanomedicine. A wide variety of different nanomaterials based on allotropic forms of carbon, such as nanotubes, nanohorns and nanodiamonds, are currently being explored towards different biomedical applications. In this review, we discuss the recent advances in the development of these novel nanomaterials for cancer therapy. A comparison between the characteristics, the advantages, the drawbacks, the benefits and the risks associated with these novel biocompatible forms of carbon is presented here.

Keywords::

• cancer therapy
• carbon nanohorns
• carbon nanotubes
• drug delivery
• nanodiamonds

Acknowledgments

Our greatest thanks go to all our co-workers who have contributed to the development of the research partly described in this article and whose names are cited in the references. We are indebted to the constant support of our research by the CNRS and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant ANR-05-JCJC-0031-01), the School of Pharmacy, University of London, the University of Trieste, MUR (cofin Prot. 2006035330) and Regione Friuli Venezia-Giulia.

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