The advances in functionalized carbon nanomaterials for drug delivery

Carbon-derived nanostructures, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, fullerenes, carbon black (CB) nanomaterials, carbon nanoparticles (CNPs), and carbon dots (CDs), have attracted much attention in a wide range of biomedical areas related to low-toxicity, high bioavailability, low cost, and perfect performances. These carbon-based nanomaterials were generally functionalized by various modification agents such as ionic liquids, amphiphilic polymers, aptamers, biomacromolecules, etc. to improve their utilization and provide advantages in clinical areas. Diagnostics is the most important action to detect and prevent the transmission of disease to others and begin treatment with drug and stem cell therapies. The carbon-derived nanostructures with or without any functionalization can be used for diagnostic purposes as bioimaging and biosensor devices due to their unique optical and electrochemical properties. Nowadays, studies state that functionalized carbon nanomaterials (FCNMs) are promising nano-vehicles for genes, proteins, growth factors, and stem cells, as well as drugs, depending on advanced properties including high mechanical strength and similarity to extracellular networks. Moreover, tunable surface functions of FCNMs provide high loading capacity even for difficult drug molecules, with controllable and long-term release, and targeting ability for a specific site. FCNMs can be used as a theragnostic agent, which is a nanosized agent in therapeutic and diagnostic systems. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that are usually utilized in theragnostic applications such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. FCNMs possess the ability to attach to diverse molecules including the ligands of the cells. This chapter discusses the functionalization and potential use of carbon nanomaterials in diagnosis, drug delivery systems, and stem cell therapy.