Utilizing Carbon Nanomaterials for Enhanced Photothermal Therapy in Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer is the most often diagnosed cancer in women and the second largest cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Photothermal therapy (PTT) has emerged as a viable cancer treatment that uses near-infrared (NIR) light-absorbing chemicals to selectively heat and destroy tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. PTT has advantages such as high specificity, little invasiveness, and efficient tumor ablation. Recent advances include developing imageable photothermal agents to aid in therapy planning. This review focuses on the function of carbon nanoparticles in PTT, investigating their processes and advantages and analysing in vitro and in vivo investigations. Carbon nanomaterials like carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene have a large surface area, great electrical conductivity, and biocompatibility, making them ideal for PTT. Carbon nanomaterials absorb NIR light, enabling deep tissue penetration and targeted heating of tumor tissues, resulting in necrosis and apoptosis. Carbon nanomaterials also increase tumor vascular permeability, which promotes chemotherapeutic drug accumulation and improves treatment results. Repurposing carbon nanomaterials for increased PTT is a potential method because of its capacity to target various pathways, select cytotoxicity against cancer cells, and synergistic effects with other anticancer drugs.