Carbon Nanotubes Deliver in Medicine

By Khuloud T. Al-Jamal

Attaching compounds to these hairlike devices turns them into powerful tools for imaging and targeted therapies.

This Article From Issue

March-April 2015

Volume 103, Number 2

Page 122

DOI: 10.1511/2015.113.122

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Despite all of the amazing advances in drug development, no treatment can be effective unless it reaches its intended site. New delivery systems have emerged over the past 40 years, and are improving in their ability to accumulate therapeutic agents at a desired target, such as a tumor.

Lung cancer cells, colored red and green, are captured in the act of taking in carbon nanotubes, shown in gold. The nanotubes can be attached to drugs or other targeted therapies that are toxic to cancer cells, making nanotubes powerful candidates as carriers for medical treatments. The needlelike profile of nanotubes makes them proficient at penetrating cell membranes and delivering treatments.

Image courtesy of the author and Izzat Suffian.

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