Graphene Oxide for Drug Delivery and Cancer Therapy

A perfect two-dimensional material called graphene, its oxides and derivatives, due to their astounding, electrical, thermal, mechanical, and optical properties have created a great new hope for various applications in the area of materials science, including nanoscience and nanotechnology, optics, energy sector, and biomedicine. The oxidized form of graphene, that is, graphene oxide (GO), with its extensive surface area and exposed functional groups (epoxy, hydroxyl, carboxylic, carbonyl, etc.), provides numerous binding sites for organic/inorganic molecules and is described as a most suitable candidate for tag and drag of various drugs and biomolecules. This chapter reviews the research done on the deployment of GO as a biotemplate, scaffold, etc. for effective drug design, its delivery, and therapies for the cancer disease. Preliminary results in the area of chemotherapy indicate that GO is will prove to be a milestone for drug design and delivery. The progress of research has allowed the development of internal and external target systems, as well as techniques to controllably release drugs loaded from GO structures. Biological therapy, through the delivery of biomolecules and gene therapy, has also been addressed by GO nanocarriers. Phototherapies against cancer, including photodynamic and photothermal therapy, have also undergone great developments in GO applications, showing good results in vitro and in vivo and with high biocompatibility. Finally, mixed therapies, based on combinations of the aforementioned therapies, have also been developed such as a method to improve the efficiency and fight against the multidrug resistance. This chapter provides a review and future prospects of various pathways for GO in imaging/detecting, drug design/release, and therapies against cancer cells. © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.