title: Platinum nanoparticles: a promising material for future cancer therapy?
abstract: Recently, the use of gold nanoparticles as potential tumor selective radiosensitizers has been proposed as a breakthrough in radiotherapy. Experiments in living cells and in vivo have demonstrated the efficiency of the metal nanoparticles when combined with low energy x-ray radiations (below conventional 1 MeV Linac radiation). Further studies on DNA have been performed in order to better understand the fundamental processes of sensitization and to further improve the method. In this work, we propose a new strategy based on the combination of platinum nanoparticles with irradiation by fast ions effectively used in hadron therapy. It is observed in particular that nanoparticles enhance strongly lethal damage in DNA, with an efficiency factor close to 2 for double strand breaks. In order to disentangle the effect of the nano-design architecture, a comparison with the effects of dispersed metal atoms at the same concentration has been performed. It is thus shown that the sensitization in nanoparticles is enhanced due to auto-amplified electronic cascades inside the nanoparticles, which reinforces the energy deposition in the close vicinity of the metal. Finally, the combination of fast ion radiation (hadron therapy) with platinum nanoparticles should strongly improve cancer therapy protocols.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Collisions Atomiques et Moléculaires (UMR 8625), Université Paris-Sud 11, CNRS, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Porcel
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liehn
authors.forename: Hynd
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Remita
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Usami
authors.forename: Katsumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Yoshiya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Furusawa
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Le Sech
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lacombe
mesh_terms: D004249:DNA Damage; D004278:DNA, Superhelical / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009944:Organoplatinum Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing; D011838:Radiation-Sensitizing Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D004278:DNA, Superhelical; D009944:Organoplatinum Compounds; D011838:Radiation-Sensitizing Agents; D010984:Platinum; C021975:chloroterpyridineplatinum(II)