Abstract
Despite major advances in the field of radiotherapy, healthy tissue damage continues to constrain the dose that can be prescribed in cancer therapy. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have been proposed as a solution to minimize radiation‐associated toxicities by enhancing the radiation dose delivered locally to tumor cells. In the current study, we investigated the application of third‐generation GNPs in two‐dimensional (2D) and three‐dimensional (3D) cell cultures and whether there is synergy between the nanoparticles and kilo‐ or mega‐voltage radiation to cause augmented cytotoxicity. The 10‐nm GNPs were found to be nontoxic in both 2D and 3D in vitro cultures of colon cancer cells at concentrations of up to 10–25 µg/ml. There was a significant increase in cell survival fraction reduction following exposure to 1 Gy of kilo‐voltage (18.3%) and 2 Gy of mega‐voltage (35.3%) radiation when the cells were incubated with 50 µg/ml of GNPs. The biocompatibility of the GNPs combined with their substantial synergy with radiation encourages further investigations into their application in targeted cancer treatment.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization, cancer is a leading cause of death globally.[1]
Despite major advances in the field of radiotherapy, healthy tissue damage continues to constrain the dose that can be prescribed in cancer therapy
We investigated the application of third-generation Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures and whether there is synergy between the nanoparticles and kilo- or mega-voltage radiation to cause augmented cytotoxicity
Summary
According to the World Health Organization, cancer is a leading cause of death globally.[1]. Research into GNPs in radiotherapy has long demonstrated that the enhancement of radiation dose to cancer cells is possible.[9] there are still numerous questions regarding GNPs that have yet to be answered. Increasing the energy of the radiation to 6 MV led to 29% reduction in mean inactivation dose in MDAMB-231 cells but in DU145 cells, only a 13% reduction was observed This shows that even identical experimental protocols by the same research group yields results that display no obvious trend or tendencies. Despite these difficulties, GNPs demonstrate great potential in radiotherapy and cancer treatment. The radiation enhancement and synergistic effects with both 50-kVp x-ray and 6-MV photon radiation were determined using the clonogenic assay
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
