They are starting to be used in targeted cancer treatments because of their unique properties. Many cancer treatments are insoluble in water and have harmful health effects. The benefit with using carbon nanotubes is that these types of treatments can be conjugated to the nanotube. These nanotubes have a needle-like shape that allows for high cell permeability that the anti-cancer drug would not have since they are insoluble. The high permeability of the nanotube means that it can penetrate tumor cells and deliver the drug directly into the cell. This helps reduce the toxic health effects as well as fixes the problem with the insolubility of drugs when they are alone.
In Combination of drug-conjugated SWCNT nano carriers for efficient therapy of cancer stem cells in a breast cancer animal model, researchers developed a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) that was functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and conjugated with CD44. PEG helps the biocompatibility of the carbon nanotube meaning that the tube has a higher chance in being accepted by the body rather than rejected. CD44 is an antibody that binds to CD44, a receptor protein that is highly expressed within patients with breast cancer. This antibody makes the nanotube highly specific to where it interacts. These nanotubes were further manipulated to be able to hold a high amount of chemotherapeutic drug and to have a pH-release response mechanism. Since a tumor is an acidic environment compared to the rest of the body, it wouldn't be beneficial for the nanotube to release the medication as soon as it entered the body. This way the amount of drug is optimized and released at the targeted location.
In the mice models, the SWCNT were conjugated with Salinomycin or Paclitaxel. It was found that the therapeutic effects were greatest when both drugs were conjugated within the SWCNT versus the therapeutic benefits without administration with the SWCNT or just one of the drugs bound to the SWCNT. The benefits included specific targeting of both the cancer stem cells and the breast cancer tumor and destroying these cells. This is a promising finding because it offers a better mode of administering chemotherapy drugs. A lot of chemotherapy drugs that cancer patients take target all rapidly growing cells like your hair, stomach lining, ect. This is why there is increased nausea and hair loss. If these application could be applied to humans then it would not only decrease these adverse health affects but it could potentially increase the amount of drug getting to the tumor or cancer stem cells allowing for a better chance at completely getting rid of the cancer an individual has. What are your thoughts? Do you believe that this technology could be beneficial or adversarial to human health? What do you know about this unique nanotechnology?
For your pleasure: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.shsu.edu/science/article/pii/S0168365916300499