Validating the anticancer potential of carbon nanotube-based therapeutics through cell line testing

•CNTs have emerged as potential tool in biomedical applications.•CNTs nanoarchitectures may be used in treatment of different types of cancers.•Use of cell lines in ruling out CNTs toxicity may facilitate their wider acceptance.•Functionalized CNTs may be considered as safe and effective nanomaterial.•Systematic evaluation for long-term toxicity of CNTs exposure shall be noteworthy.

Recent years have witnessed the booming development of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their composites in biological and medicine. By virtue of their unique physicochemical properties, CNTs have emerged as potential tools in biomedical applications as a result of their development as safe, effective nanomedicines. Diverse cell lines have been shown to be best-fit experimental models for evaluating the pharmacokinetic parameters, cell viability, and cytotoxicity of CNTS, as well as their drug efficacy ex vivo, which can then be correlated with their in vivo performance. The biological activities and cytotoxic effects of CNTs are dependent on their surface chemistry, and how they are purified and functionalized. Here, we focus on aspects of CNTs including their functionalization, and their biomedical potential and limitations, emphasizing the toxicological aspects of functionalized CNTs using various cell lines. The outlook for CNT-based nanomedicine, particularly in cancer treatment, is fascinating and encouraging. In vitro cell line data can assist the selection of specific cancer cell lines for the evaluation of anticancer bioactive-loaded CNTs as a novel drug delivery tool in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (236 K)Download as PowerPoint slide