Carbon Nanomaterials for Bioimaging, Bioanalysis, and Therapy

11 Multifunctional Graphene‐Based Nanocomposites for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

Ayuob Aghanejad¹ Parinaz Abdollahiyan¹ Jaleh Barar^1,2 and Yadollah Omidi^1,2

¹ Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Biomedicine Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran

² Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran

11.1 Introduction

Cancer has become a major cause of human mortality during the last few decades worldwide. Considering regional and global reports, increasing mortality rates of cancer appears as a primary stimulus to develop advanced diagnostic/therapeutic modalities to treat the disease much more effectively [1, 2]. Currently, the most common methods of cancer diagnosis include different imaging modalities such as single‐photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and mammography. They are used to provide effective detection of malignant sites in tissue/organs for improving the cancer prognosis [3, 4]. The commonly used therapeutic modalities (i.e. chemotherapy and radiotherapy) are often invasive and may inevitably elicit some undesired side effects in other healthy tissues/organs, which must be reduced/controlled by specific/selective targeting of the diseased cells/tissue with an advanced treatment modality. For enhancing therapies specifically/selectively on the target cells/tissue, the current ...