Assessment of metallic nanoparticles as radioenhancers in gastric cancer therapy by Geant4 simulation and local effect model

Abstract

Gastric cancer ranks as one of the most common and poor prognosis human malignancies. We investigated the radioenhancer effects of gold, silver, platinum, bismuth, iron oxide, titanium oxide and germanium nanoparticles on simulated gastric adenocarcinoma cells, irradiated with 6 MV X-rays in presence of 0.05 µM, 0.25 µM and 0.5 µM homogeneous distributed metal nanoparticles throughout the cell, including the nucleus, cytoplasm and extracellular matrix using Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation along with LEM radiobiological model. The survival reduction coefficient was obtained 0.5 for light nanoparticles including 0.5 μM titanium oxide, iron oxide and germanium and also 0.3–0.1 for heavy nanoparticles including 0.5 μM gold, silver, bismuth and platinum. Nanoparticle-mediated Enhancement Ratio for 0.5 μM internuclear Gold, Silver, Bismuth, Germanium, Platinum, Iron oxide and Titanium oxide nanoparticles was calculated to 0.10, 0.27, 0.26, 0.47, 0.09, 0.50, and 0.58, respectively. Radiosensitization by NPs may enhance therapeutic efficacy of gastric adenocarcinoma.