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Applications of carbon nanotubes for cancer research

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NanoBiotechnology

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes have many unique properties such as high surface area, hollow cavities, and excellent mechanical and electrical properties. Interfacing carbon nanotubes with biological systems could lead to significant applications in various disease diagnoses. Significant progress in interfacing carbon nanotubes with biological materials has been made in key areas such as aqueous solubility, chemical and biological functionalization for biocompatibility and specificity, and electronic sensing of proteins. In addition, the bioconjugated nanotubes combined with the sensitive nanotube-based electronic devices would enable sensitive biosensors toward medical diagnostics. Furthermore, recent findings of improved cell membrane permeability for carbon nanotubes would also expand medical applications to therapeutics using carbon nanotubes as carriers in gene delivery systems. This article reviews the current trends in biological functionalization of carbon nanotubes and their potential applications for breast cancer diagnostics. The article also reports the applications of confocal microscopy for use in understanding the interactions of biological materials such as antibodies on carbon nanotubes that are specific to surface receptors in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, a nanotube-field-effect transistor is demonstrated for electronic sensing of antibodies that are specific to surface receptors in cancer cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Delaware Nanotechnology Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Delaware, 19716, Newark, DE, USA

    Kasif Teker, Ranjani Sirdeshmukh, Kousik Sivakumar, Shoaxin Lu & Balaji Panchapakesan

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Thomas Jefferson University, 19107, Philadelphia, USA

    Eric Wickstrom

  3. Center for Advanced Biomedical Photonics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 37831-6101, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Hsin-Neng Wang & Tuan Vo-Dinh

Authors
  1. Kasif Teker
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  2. Ranjani Sirdeshmukh
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  3. Kousik Sivakumar
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  4. Shoaxin Lu
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  5. Eric Wickstrom
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  6. Hsin-Neng Wang
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  7. Tuan Vo-Dinh
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  8. Balaji Panchapakesan
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Correspondence to Balaji Panchapakesan.

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Teker, K., Sirdeshmukh, R., Sivakumar, K. et al. Applications of carbon nanotubes for cancer research. Nanobiotechnol 1, 171–182 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1385/NBT:1:2:171

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