Delivery of Chemotherapeutic Agents with Nanotube Induced Hyperthermia

摘要

Carbon nanotubes are unique materials that absorb infrared (IR) radiation, especially between 700 to HOOnm, where body tissues are most transparent. A method to enhance drug localization for peritoneal malignancies is perfusion of warm (40-42°C) chemotherapeutic agents in the abdomen. However, all tissues in the peritoneal cavity are subjected to enhanced drug delivery due to increased cell membrane permeability at hyperthermic temperatures. Here we show that rapid heating (within ten seconds) of cancer cells to 42°C, using infrared stimulation of nanotubes as a heat source, in the presence of the chemotherapeutic agents, is as effective as two hours of radiative heating at 42°C. This approach has the potential to be used as a rapid bench to bedside clinical therapeutic agent with significant impact for localizing chemotherapy agents during the surgical management of cancer.