Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017;8(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s12645-017-0026-0. Epub 2017 Feb 2.

Biological mechanisms of gold nanoparticle radiosensitization

Soraia Rosa  1 , Chris Connolly  1   2 , Giuseppe Schettino  2 , Karl T Butterworth  1 , Kevin M Prise  1
Affiliations
Review

Biological mechanisms of gold nanoparticle radiosensitization

Soraia Rosa et al. Cancer Nanotechnol. 2017.

Abstract

There has been growing interest in the use of nanomaterials for a range of biomedical applications over the last number of years. In particular, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) possess a number of unique properties that make them ideal candidates as radiosensitizers on the basis of their strong photoelectric absorption coefficient and ease of synthesis. However, despite promising preclinical evidence in vitro supported by a limited amount of in vivo experiments, along with advances in mechanistic understanding, GNPs have not yet translated into the clinic. This may be due to disparity between predicted levels of radiosensitization based on physical action, observed biological response and an incomplete mechanistic understanding, alongside current experimental limitations. This paper provides a review of the current state of the field, highlighting the potential underlying biological mechanisms in GNP radiosensitization and examining the barriers to clinical translation.

Keywords: Cancer therapy; Gold nanoparticle; Radiation therapy; Radiosensitization.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Photon mass energy absorption coefficients of soft tissue and gold. The ratio of the mass energy absorption coefficients is shown as a function of photon energy (Hubbell and Seltzer 1996)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison of predicted and observed values of dose enhancement for gold nanoparticles at both megavoltage and kilovoltage energies. “Increase in physical dose” here refers to the ratio of the additional dose deposited by X-rays in the system due to the addition of GNPs to that which would be deposited in the absence of gold. The observed data in this figure are dose modification results from in vitro experiments, while the predicted dose increase is based on the gold concentrations and X-ray energies used. The dashed line shows the trend which would be followed if the sensitizer enhancement ratio directly followed predicted increases in physical dose (Butterworth et al. 2013)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Schematic illustration of the photoelectric, Compton and Auger Effects. The Compton effect is represented in blue, the photoelectric effect in green and the Auger effect in red as described above
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Schematic representation of the biological mechanisms involved in GNP radiosensitization. GNPs influence oxidative stress, DNA damage, cell cycle and bystander effects
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alric C, Taleb J, Le Duc G, Mandon C, Billotey C, Le Meur-Herland A, Brochard T, Vocanson F, Janier M, Perriat P, Roux S, Tillement O. Gadolinium chelate coated gold nanoparticles as contrast agents for both X-ray computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. J Am Chem Soc. 2008;130:5908–5915. doi: 10.1021/ja078176p. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Andersson U, Wang H, Palmblad K, Aveberger AC, Bloom O, Erlandsson-Harris H, Janson A, Kokkola R, Zhang M, Yang H, Tracey KJ. High mobility group 1 protein (HMG-1) stimulates proinflammatory cytokine synthesis in human monocytes. J Exp Med. 2000;192:565–570. doi: 10.1084/jem.192.4.565. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anselmo AC, Mitragotri S. Nanoparticles in the clinic. Bioeng Transl Med. 2016 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arnér ESJ, Holmgren A. Physiological functions of thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase. Eur J Biochem. 2000;267:6102–6109. doi: 10.1046/j.1432-1327.2000.01701.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Azzam EI, de Toledo SM, Little JB. Direct evidence for the participation of gap junction-mediated intercellular communication in the transmission of damage signals from alpha-particle irradiated to nonirradiated cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2001;98:473–478. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources