Highly biocompatible carbon nanocapsules derived from plastic waste for advanced cancer therapy

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are increasingly being investigated for their use in biomedical applications and nanomedicine. In order to be used as nano-carriers for delivering anti-cancer drugs (drug delivery), smart free standing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with hydrophilic core were prepared from recycled plastic bags. These CNTs were loaded with doxorubicin (Dox) and its external surface was chemically functionalized with a biodegradable polymer (chitosan) by anchoring its polymeric chains to functional groups on the external surface of CNTs. The obtained Chitosan-coated CNTs (Ch-CNCs) nanocomposites were then tested for their localized and slow drug eluting property using the cellular vicinity of MDA-MB-231 TXSA, human breast cancer cell line. The preliminary results are very promising and confirm a 500 fold enhanced death rate in case of cells treated with Ch-CNCs compared to the pro-drug alone. This work shows that it is possible to develop a highly biocompatible carbon nanocapsules (CNCs) derived from plastic bags and further used them as cargo transporters to study an intra-tumoral delivery of an anti-neoplastic drug is possible.