Modification Strategies for Carbon Nanotubes as a Drug Delivery System

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are extensively explored in materials science due to their unique structure and consequent mystical properties. CNTs are enjoying increasing popularity as building blocks for novel drug delivery systems as well as for bioimaging and biosensing. The recent strategies to functionalize CNTs have resulted in the generation of biocompatible and water-soluble CNTs that are well suited for high treatment efficacy and minimum side effects for future cancer therapies with low drug doses. This review covers the latest advances in the strategies for the modification of CNTs (with inorganic nanoparticles, small organic molecules, polymers, or bioactive materials), with an emphasis on the development of functional biological nanointerfaces as drug vehicles, after a simple introduction of the toxicity of CNTs. The translation of these systems into clinical practice and an outlook into future approaches are also discussed.