Carbon-based nanomaterials have established a prime position as drug delivery carriers. It is very interesting to see that a carbon nanostructure could be used as a drug too, instead of its regular application as a drug delivery carrier. In this aspect, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are now in the spotlight. GQDs are one of the recent entrants to the list of carbon-based nanomaterials. They are now reported useful in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Furthermore, antibacterial and anti-diabetic potentials of GQDs are now known. In addition, they are now widely evaluated for drug delivery application. They have good potential for drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier. Tumor-targeted drug delivery is also possible with GQDs. Their biosensing and bioimaging applications are also under extensive study. In this review, the therapeutic, drug delivery, biosensing and bioimaging applications of GQDs are described. It would be very interesting to speculate the future of GQDs and how this carbon nanomaterial influences the future of nanobiomedicine. It is presumed that drug-GQD duo would be the next generation strategy for many unresolved therapeutic hurdles.

碳基纳米材料已确立了作为药物输送载体的首要地位。有趣的是，碳纳米结构也可以用作药物，而不是通常用作药物传递载体。在这个方面，石墨烯量子点（GQD）现在备受关注。GQD是碳基纳米材料列表的最新进入者之一。现在报道它们在帕金森氏症和阿尔茨海默氏病中有用。此外，现在已知GQD的抗菌和抗糖尿病潜力。此外，它们现在已广泛评估用于药物递送的应用。它们具有跨血脑屏障输送药物的良好潜力。GQD也可以进行靶向肿瘤的药物递送。它们的生物传感和生物成像应用也在广泛研究中。在这篇评论中，描述了GQD的药物递送，生物传感和生物成像应用。推测GQD的未来以及这种碳纳米材料如何影响纳米生物医学的未来将是非常有趣的。据推测，药物-GQD二重奏将成为许多未解决的治疗障碍的下一代策略。