Layers of Hope: How Graphene and Nanostructures Hold Promise for Cancer Therapy

Cancer remains a challenge in modern medicine, characterized by high mortality rates and significant variability in treatment response. The urgent need for more effective and targeted therapies has driven the exploration of innovative strategies, including nanomedicine, which promises precise therapeutic delivery to tumor cells and minimal off-target effects in healthy tissues. This review critically summarizes recent advances in the use of nanomaterials for cancer therapy, focusing on graphene-based materials and dendrimers, whose complementary physicochemical architectures enable the rational design of hybrid nanoplatforms with enhanced therapeutic efficacy and biological performance. Due to their distinctive properties, such as high surface area, tunable architecture, and versatile surface functionalization, nanomaterials have emerged not only as drug delivery platform but also as active modulators of cancer-associated cellular processes. We discuss current evidence on nano-cell interactions, elucidating how these interactions can influence key cellular pathways relevant to tumor progression and treatment response. Despite their promise, a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between these nanomaterials and human cells is critical for clinical translation. A deeper mechanistic understanding of these interactions is essential to guide potential pathways for the development of effective therapeutics, paving the way for future advances in nanomedicine.