title: SWCNTs as novel theranostic nanocarriers for cancer diagnosis and therapy: towards safe translation to the clinics.
abstract: With their unique physicochemical properties, single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) hold great promise for applications as drug delivery systems (DDS) for early and better diagnosis and therapy of cancer. While several in vitro and in vivo studies have validated their potential benefit, no SWCNT-based formulation has yet reached clinical trials. Towards prospective safe clinical applications, the main properties that were adopted to enhance the biocompatibility of SWCNTs were highlighted. Then, the recent progresses in the in vivo applications of SWCNTs as diagnostic nanoprobes using multimodality imaging techniques and as therapeutic nanocarriers delivering wide range of anticancer efficient drugs to tumors were reviewed. Finally, the efforts required for safe clinical applications of SWCNTs as DDS for cancer diagnosis and therapy were discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Achraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al Faraj
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry; D004337:Drug Carriers; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010316:Particle Size; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013499:Surface Properties; D000068936:Theranostic Nanomedicine
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004337:Drug Carriers; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon
keywords: cancer diagnosis and therapy; drug delivery system; nanotoxicity; noninvasive imaging; single walled carbon nanotubes; theranostic nanocarriers