The effect of nanoparticle coating on biological, chemical and biophysical parameters influencing radiosensitization in nanoparticle-aided radiation therapy.

Nanoparticle-based composites have the potential to meet requirements for radiosensitization in both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The radiosensitizing properties of nanoparticles could be reliant on the nature of their coating layer. Any gains in reduced toxicity and aggregation or improved delivery to tumor cells for coated nanoparticles must be weighed against the loss of dose enhancement. The radiosensitization potential of coated NPs is confirmed by numerous studies but in most of them, the coating layer is mostly applied to reduce toxicity of the NPs and for stability and biocompatibility aims. While the direct effects of the coating layer in radiosensitization-were ignored and not considered. This review provides an overview of double-edged impact of nanoparticle coating on the radiosensitization potential of nanostructures and discusses the challenges in choosing appropriate coating material in the aim of achieving improved radioenhancement. Coating layer could affect the radiosensitization processes and thereby the biological outcomes of nanoparticle-based radiation therapy. The physicochemical properties of the coating layer can be altered by the type of the coating material and its thickness. Under low-energy photon irradiation, the coating layer could act as a shield for nanoparticles capable of absorb produced low-energy electrons which are important levers for local and nanoscopic dose enhancement. Also, it seems that the coating layer could mostly affect the chemical process of ROS production rather than the physicochemical process. Based on the reviewed literature, for the irradiated coated nanoparticles, the cell survival and viability of cancer cells are decreased more than normal cells. Also, cell cycle arrest, inhibition of cell proliferation, DNA damage, cell death and apoptosis were shown to be affected by coated metallic nanoparticles under irradiation.

Shielding performance of multi-metal nanoparticle composites for diagnostic radiology: an MCNPX and Geant4 study.

Lead-free polymer composite shields are used in diagnostic radiology to protect patients from unnecessary radiation exposure. This study aimed to examine and introduce the radiation-shielding properties of single- and multi-metal nanoparticle (NP)-based composites containing Bi, W, and Sn using Geant4, MCNPX, and XCom for radiological applications. The mass attenuation coefficients and effective atomic numbers of single- and multi-metal NP-loaded polymer composites were calculated using the Geant4 and MCNPX simulation codes for X-ray energies of 20-140 keV. The nano-sized fillers inside the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS:C2H6SiO) matrix included W (K = 69.5 keV), Bi (K = 90.5 keV), and Sn (K = 29.20 keV). For single-metal shields, one filler was used, while in multi-metal shields, two fillers were required. The MCNPX and Geant4 simulation results were compared with the XCom results. The multi-metal NP composites exhibited higher attenuation over a larger energy range owing to their attenuation windows. In addition, Bi2O3 + WO3 NPs showed a 39% higher attenuation at 100-140 keV, and that of Bi2O3 + SnO2 NPs was higher at 40-60 keV. Meanwhile, the WO3 + SnO2 NPs exhibited lower attenuation. The difference between the results obtained using Geant4 and XCom was less than 2%, because these codes have similar simulation structures. The results show that the shielding performance of the Bi2O3 + WO3 filler is better than that of the other single- and multi-metal fillers. In addition, it was found that the Geant4 code was more accurate for simulating radiation composites.

Accelerated brachytherapy with the Xoft electronic source used in association with iodine, gold, bismuth, gadolinium, and hafnium nano-radioenhancers.

PURPOSE: The current study was designed to calculate the dose enhancement factor (DEF) of iodine (I), gold (Au), bismuth (Bi), gadolinium (Gd), and hafnium (Hf) nanoparticles (NP)s by Monte Carlo (MC) modeling of an electronic brachytherapy source in resection cavities of breast tumors. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The GEANT4 MC code was used for simulation of a phantom containing a water-filled balloon and a Xoft source (50 kVp) to irradiate the margins of a resected breast tumor. NPs with a diameter of 20 nm and concentrations from 1 to 5% w/w were simulated in a tumor margin with 5 mm thickness as well as a hypothetical breast model consisting of spherical island-like residual tumor-remnants. The DEFs for all NPs were calculated in both models. RESULTS: In the margin-loaded model, for the concentration of 1% w/w heavy atom, DEFs of 2.5, 2.3, 2.1, 2, and 1.7 were calculated for Bi, Au, I, Hf, and Gd NPs (descending order), which increased, almost linearly with concentration for all NPs. Moreover, normal tissue dose behind the NP-loaded margin declined significantly depending on NP type and concentration. When modeling residual tumor islands, DEF values were very close to the margin-loaded values except for Bi and I, where DEFs of 2.55 and 1.7 were seen, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable dose enhancements were obtained for the heavy atom NPs studied in the partial breast brachytherapy with a Xoft electronic source. In addition, normal tissue doses were lowered in the points beyond the NP-loaded margin. The findings revealed promising outcomes and the probability of improved tumor control for NP-aided brachytherapy with the Xoft electronic source.

Comparing Geant4 physics models for proton-induced dose deposition and radiolysis enhancement from a gold nanoparticle.

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are materials that make the tumor cells more radiosensitive when irradiated with ionizing radiation. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of different physical interaction models on the dose calculations and radiochemical results around the GNP. By applying the Geant4 Monte Carlo (MC) toolkit, a single 50-nm GNP was simulated, which was immersed in a water phantom and irradiated with 5, 50, and 150 MeV proton beams. The present work assessed various parameters including the secondary electron spectra, secondary photon spectra, radial dose distribution (RDD), dose enhancement factor (DEF), and radiochemical yields around the GNP. The results with an acceptable statistical uncertainty of less than 1% indicated that low-energy electrons deriving from the ionization process formed a significant part of the total number of secondary particles generated in the presence of GNP; the Penelope model produced a larger number of these electrons by a factor of about 30%. Discrepancies of the secondary electron spectrum between Livermore and Penelope were more obvious at energies of less than 1 keV and reached the factor of about 30% at energies between 250 eV and 1 keV. The RDDs for Livermore and Penelope models were very similar with small variations within the first 6 nm from NP surface by a factor of 10%. In addition, neither the G-value nor the REF was affected by the choice of physical interaction models with the same energy cut-off. This work illustrated the similarity of the Livermore and Penelope models (within 15%) available in Geant4 for future simulation studies of GNP enhanced proton therapy with physical, physicochemical, and chemical mechanisms.