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Carbon nanomaterials combined with metal nanoparticles for theranostic applications
Author(s) -
Modugno Gloria,
MénardMoyon Cécilia,
Prato Maurizio,
Bianco Alberto
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0007-1188
DOI - 10.1111/bph.12984
Subject(s) - nanotechnology , nanomaterials , drug delivery , graphene , surface modification , carbon nanotube , materials science , cancer therapy , nanoparticle , chemistry , cancer , medicine
Among targeted delivery systems, platforms with nanosize dimensions, such as carbon nanomaterials ( CNM s) and metal nanoparticles ( NP s), have shown great potential in biomedical applications. They have received considerable interest in recent years, especially with respect to their potential utilization in the field of cancer diagnosis and therapy. The many functions of nanomaterials provide opportunities to use them as multimodal agents for theranostics, a combination of therapy and diagnosis. Carbon nanotubes and graphene are some of the most widely used CNM s because of their unique structural and physicochemical properties. Their high specific surface area allows for efficient drug loading and the possibility of functionalization with various bioactive molecules. In addition, CNM s are ideal platforms for the attachment of NP s. In the biomedical field, NP s have also shown tremendous potential for use in drug delivery, non‐invasive tumour imaging and early detection due to their optical and magnetic properties. NP/CNM hybrids not only combine the unique properties of the NP s and CNM s but they also exhibit new properties arising from interactions between the two entities. In this review, the preparation of CNM s conjugated to different types of metal NP s and their applications in diagnosis, imaging, therapy and theranostics are presented.