Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer Cells with SWCNT-Polymer Nanocomplexes as Drug Carriers

Recent studies show an alternative treatment for cancer that uses single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as drug delivery agents because of their ability to cross cell membranes easily. SWCNTs were dispersed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and Pluronic biocompatible polymers before introducing anti-cancer drugs in the CNTs. Camptothecin (CPT) and Doxorubicin, the anti-cancer drugs used, formed non-covalent CNT-polymer-drug conjugates in aqueous solution when attached to CNTs with a biocompatible polymer. Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence emission peaks of (7,5) and (7,6) CNTs verified the polymeric dispersion of SWCNTs by both polymers. Pancreatic cancer cells that came from PaCa-2, a pancreatic cell line, were exposed to various concentrations of PVA and CPT with varying SWCNTs to examine the effectiveness of these complexes. The number of viable cells were observed to also determine how effective the treatment was. Preliminary results demonstrate SWCNTs serve as good drug delivery agents and can help increase the effectiveness of anti-cancer drug on the cancer cells.