Insights on functionalized carbon nanotubes for cancer theranostics

Table 1 Summary of the functionalization of CNTs through various molecules

Type of CNTs	Functionalized molecules	Effectiveness	Tumor model	Biocompatibility test	Refs.
SWNTs	PEG	Increase solubility, prevent particle aggregation, decrease side effect of the whole DDS	Gastric cancer	Show decreased toxicity towards normal tissue	[40]
Both SWNTs and MWNTs	PEI	Improve the solubility, homogeneity and dispersity, reduce the particle size, increase the positive charge to interact with siRNA	Cervical cancer	N/A	[41]
SWNTs	Hyaluronic acid	Enhance the serum stability and target CD44-overexpressing cancer cells, overcome the multidrug resistance	Ovarian cancer	Show no cytotoxicity towards normal tissue with no body weight drop in mice	[42]
MWNTs	Chitosan	Increase the water solubility and cell-penetrating ability, decrease the toxicity	Breast cancer	Show low cytotoxicity	[43]
MWNTs	PLGA	Improve the dispersity, reduce toxicity, provide attachment sites for drugs and tune the temporal release	Osteosarcoma	Show low cytotoxicity in normal cells	[44]
SWNTs	CD33 mAB	Recognize and specifically target the GNM-CD33⁺ cells	Glioblastoma	N/A	[45]
SWNTs	IGF1R mAB and HER2 mAB	Enable the multi-component to target IGF1R and HER2 surface receptors	Breast cancer	Exhibit negligible in vitro toxicity in normal cells	[46]
SWNTs	RGD peptide	Target α_vβ₃-expressing cancer cells	Malignant melanoma	Induce little toxicity in vitro	[47]
SWNTs	EGF receptor	Achieve active targeting ability and enhance the uptake of drugs	Head and neck squamous carcinoma	Show negligible toxicity in vitro and in vivo	[48]

ISSN: 1477-3155