Targeted CNx Nanowire-Drug Complexes for Enhanced Chemotherapeutic Efficacy

摘要

Recently the use of carbon nanotubes (CNT), Ag nanoshells, and other Nanowires have been shown to be effective in photo-ablating cultured cells. In these early demonstrations, penetrating IR (approximately 1.04 micron) generates heating in the nano-object to affect temperature rises in the surrounding cells. These promising approaches to therapeutic heat delivery is limited because unrealistically high radiation intensities (>100 mW) must be delivered at the dermis to provide the necessary heating for cell death deep in tissues. Further, these 'nanocarriers' lack specificity or targeting modalities needed to achieve critical particle density for ideal heat transduction. Targeting moeties can be coupled to carbon nitride nanotube. The resulting conjugates can be activated to photo-ablate tumors with an extraordinarily small amount of power.