2008/07/11 by James F. Hainfeld, F. Avraham Dilmanian, Daniel N. Slatkin +1 · 2 citations
Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · Materials Science · #Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry #Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques #Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery
paper · pdf · doi:10.1211/jpp.60.8.0005
openalex publication_date 2008/07/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Gold is an excellent absorber of X-rays. If tumours could be loaded with gold, this would lead to a higher dose to the cancerous tissue compared with the dose received by normal tissue during a radiotherapy treatment. Calculations indicate that this dose enhancement can be significant, even 200% or greater. In this paper, the physical and biological parameters affecting this enhancement are discussed. Gold nanoparticles have shown therapeutic efficacy in animal trials and these results are reviewed. Some 86% long-term (>1 year) cures of EMT-6 mouse mammary subcutaneous tumours was achieved with an intravenous injection of gold nanoparticles before irradiation with 250-kVp photons, whereas only 20% were cured with radiation alone. The clinical potential of this approach is also discussed.