Kumar Manish, Raza Kaisar
Department of Pharmacy, School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy, Central University of Rajasthan, Bandar Sindri, Distt. Ajmer, Rajasthan 305 817. India.
Pharm Nanotechnol. 2017;5(3):169-179. doi: 10.2174/2211738505666170301142232.
C60-fullerenes (CFs) constitute a carbon-allotropic family with cage-like fused-ring structure, comprising of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. Since discovery in 1985, CFs attracted the scientists from various strata for unique properties like tensile strength, nanometeric size, symmetric nature, thermal and photo conductivity, chemical tailoring opportunities and drug loading capabilities. Surprisingly, CFs are also established to possess antiviral, neuroprotective, antiinflammatory, MRI contrast and antioxidant properties. Though extensively explored for chemical modifications and therapeutic benefits, CFs and derivatives also offer immense promises in drug delivery, especially to the cancerous cells.
The present review is an attempt to highlight the promises of CFs in drug delivery, esp. of anticancer agents. The review also analyzes the safety concerns of CF-based drug delivery and attempts to discuss the promises and challenges in the light of preclinical and clinical data.
The raw material (research/review articles) for the manuscript was collected from Pubmed, Google scholar and Scopus and the keywords used were fullerenes, nanotechnology, nanomedicine, functionalization, safety, drug delivery and biomedical applications.
The drug release rate controlling behavior, higher drug loading, immuno-neutrality, substantial biocompatibility, capability to bypass mononuclear phagocytic system, long circulating nature and tissue extraction by virtue of enhanced permeability and retention effect are the major promises of these nanocarriers. On the other hand, the concerns like elimination from the biological system, anticipated tissue toxicity, stability of the final product, sterility issues and commercial viability pose challenges in proper utilization of CFs as ideal drug delivery carriers. However, a few commercial products based on CFs with human safety evidences provide a ray of hope.
C60富勒烯（CFs）是一种具有笼状稠环结构的碳同素异形体家族，由20个六边形和12个五边形组成。自1985年被发现以来，CFs因其独特的性质，如拉伸强度、纳米尺寸、对称性质、热导率和光电导率、化学修饰机会以及药物负载能力，吸引了各领域的科学家。令人惊讶的是，CFs还被证实具有抗病毒、神经保护、抗炎、磁共振成像造影和抗氧化特性。尽管CFs在化学修饰和治疗益处方面得到了广泛探索，但CFs及其衍生物在药物递送，尤其是向癌细胞的药物递送方面也展现出巨大潜力。
本综述旨在突出CFs在药物递送，尤其是抗癌药物递送方面的潜力。该综述还分析了基于CFs的药物递送的安全性问题，并试图根据临床前和临床数据讨论其潜力与挑战。
从PubMed、谷歌学术和Scopus收集撰写本手稿的原始材料（研究/综述文章），使用的关键词为富勒烯、纳米技术、纳米医学、功能化、安全性、药物递送和生物医学应用。
这些纳米载体的主要潜力在于其药物释放速率控制行为、更高的药物负载量、免疫中性、良好的生物相容性、绕过单核吞噬系统的能力、长循环特性以及借助增强的通透性和滞留效应实现的组织摄取。另一方面，从生物系统中的清除、预期的组织毒性、最终产品的稳定性、无菌问题和商业可行性等问题，对将CFs作为理想药物递送载体的合理利用构成了挑战。然而，一些有人类安全性证据的基于CFs的商业产品带来了一线希望。
