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Carbon Nanotubes Loaded with Anticancer Drugs: A Platform for Multimodal Cancer Treatment

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Carbon Nanotubes for Biomedical Applications

Part of the book series: Carbon Nanostructures ((CARBON))

Abstract

Approximately every fourth person in the world currently dies of cancer. Although many efficient anticancer drugs have been developed over the last 60 years or more, most therapeutic approaches still lack specificity for their intended site of action in the body, resulting in reduced effectiveness and severe side effects. The emerging field of nanomedicine provides a whole range of materials and techniques to develop customizable drug delivery vehicles that assist the targeting of therapeutic agents to the desired site of action. Amongst these, carbon nanotubes have emerged as promising candidates, being capable of penetrating mammalian cell membranes and allowing for the attachment of high loads of drugs and targeting agents on their surface or the inner cavity. This chapter will discuss the principles of targeted, anticancer chemotherapies and introduce carbon nanotubes as novel tools for vector-based, targeted drug delivery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Elena Heister, Vera Neves, Johnjoe McFadden & Helen M. Coley

  2. Advanced Institute of Technology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Elena Heister, Vera Neves & S. Ravi P. Silva

Authors
  1. Elena Heister
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  2. Vera Neves
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  3. S. Ravi P. Silva
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  4. Johnjoe McFadden
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  5. Helen M. Coley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elena Heister .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, Heidelberg, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Rüdiger Klingeler

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Oxford University, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK

    Robert B. Sim

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Heister, E., Neves, V., Silva, S.R.P., McFadden, J., Coley, H.M. (2011). Carbon Nanotubes Loaded with Anticancer Drugs: A Platform for Multimodal Cancer Treatment. In: Klingeler, R., Sim, R. (eds) Carbon Nanotubes for Biomedical Applications. Carbon Nanostructures. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14802-6_12

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