Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA.
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Phys Med. 2019 Apr;60:7-13. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2019.02.013. Epub 2019 Mar 21.
Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are an emerging area of interest in radiation therapy due to their unique radio-sensitizing properties. In the literature, the enhancing capability of GNPs is usually quantified using the metric dose enhancement ratio (DER). Traditionally, the focus of the vast majority of studies has always been on intravenous administration of GNPs. However, recent work showed the potential of using GNP inhalation, rather than intravenous injection, to enhance the dose to the lung. Yet, some of these studies are employing simplistic analytical methods to calculate DER and, thus far, there are no detailed computations of the enhancement profiles therein. Moreover, the coating on the GNP surface can be adversely affected by the large gradient of the radiation dose in the immediate vicinity of GNPs, leading to the rupture of ligands and detachment of GNPs from the surface of the membrane, and hence the loss of its efficacy. In this study, a next-generation deterministic code was used to resolve the DER profile at the interface between the septum, air, and surface of GNPs when they are attached and detached. The results show that the large values of DER in conjunction with the developed hot spots are very effective in lung treatment; on the other hand, coating rupture can lead to significant reduction in DER that may reach 64%. Thus, GNPs can be beneficial in inhalational medicine to treat lung cancer, provided that more comprehensive studies on the characteristics of the coating are addressed to maximize the radio-therapeutic benefit of GNPs.
金纳米颗粒(GNPs)由于其独特的放射增敏特性,是放射治疗领域的一个新兴研究领域。在文献中,通常使用剂量增强比(DER)这一指标来量化 GNPs 的增强能力。传统上,绝大多数研究的重点始终是静脉内给予 GNPs。然而,最近的研究表明,使用 GNP 吸入而非静脉注射来增强肺部剂量具有潜力。然而,其中一些研究采用了简单的分析方法来计算 DER,到目前为止,还没有对这些增强谱进行详细的计算。此外,GNPs 表面的涂层可能会受到 GNPs 附近辐射剂量的大梯度的不利影响,导致配体破裂和 GNPs 从膜表面脱离,从而丧失其疗效。在这项研究中,下一代确定性代码被用于解决附着和脱附时隔板、空气和 GNPs 表面之间的 DER 分布。结果表明,DER 的大值与热点的发展非常有效地用于肺部治疗;另一方面,涂层破裂会导致 DER 显著降低,可能达到 64%。因此,GNPs 可用于吸入式医学来治疗肺癌,前提是要解决更多关于涂层特性的综合研究,以最大限度地提高 GNPs 的放射治疗效益。