Issue 18, 2021

Carbon dots for cancer nanomedicine: a bright future

Abstract

Cancer remains one of the main causes of death in the world. Early diagnosis and effective cancer therapies are required to treat this pathology. Traditional therapeutic approaches are limited by lack of specificity and systemic toxicity. In this scenario, nanomaterials could overcome many limitations of conventional approaches by reducing side effects, increasing tumor accumulation and improving the efficacy of drugs. In the past few decades, carbon nanomaterials (i.e., fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and carbon dots) have attracted significant attention of researchers in various scientific fields including biomedicine due to their unique physical/chemical properties and biological compatibility and are among the most promising materials that have already changed and will keep changing human life. Recently, because of their functionalization and stability, carbon nanomaterials have been explored as a novel tool for the delivery of therapeutic cancer drugs. In this review, we present an overview of the development of carbon dot nanomaterials in the nanomedicine field by focusing on their synthesis, and structural and optical properties as well as their imaging, therapy and cargo delivery applications.

Graphical abstract: Carbon dots for cancer nanomedicine: a bright future

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
14 yan 2021
Accepted
14 iyn 2021
First published
08 iyl 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2021,3, 5183-5221

Carbon dots for cancer nanomedicine: a bright future

S. Bayda, E. Amadio, S. Cailotto, Y. Frión-Herrera, A. Perosa and F. Rizzolio, Nanoscale Adv., 2021, 3, 5183 DOI: 10.1039/D1NA00036E

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