Magnetite and bismuth sulfide Janus heterostructures as radiosensitizers for in vivo enhanced radiotherapy in breast cancer
Open accessAbstract
Janus heterostructures based on bimetallic nanoparticles have emerged as effective radiosensitizers owing to their radiosensitization capabilities in cancer cells. In this context, this study aims at developing a novel bimetallic nanoradiosensitizer, Bi 2 S 3-Fe 3 O 4, to enhance tumor accumulation and promote radiation-induced DNA damage while reducing adverse effects. Due to the presence of both iron oxide and bismuth sulfide metallic nanoparticles in these newly developed nanoparticle, strong radiosensitizing capacity is anticipated through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to induce DNA damage under X-Ray irradiation. To improve blood circulation time, biocompatibility, colloidal stability, and tuning surface functionalization, the surface of Bi 2 S 3-Fe 3 O 4 bimetallic nanoparticles was coated with bovine serum albumin (BSA). Moreover, to achieve higher cellular uptake and efficient tumor site specificity, folic acid (FA) as a targeting moiety was conjugated onto the bimetallic nanoparticles, termed Bi 2 S 3@BSA-Fe 3 O 4-FA. Biocompatibility, safety, radiation-induced DNA damage by ROS activation and generation, and radiosensitizing ability were confirmed via in vitro and in vivo assays. The administration of Bi 2 S 3@BSA-Fe 3 O 4-FA in 4T1 breast cancer murine model upon X-ray radiation revealed highly effective tumor eradication without causing any mortality or severe toxicity in healthy tissues. These findings offer compelling evidence for the potential capability of Bi 2 S 3@BSA-Fe 3 O 4-FA as an ideal nanoparticle for radiation-induced cancer therapy and open interesting avenues of future research in this area.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
TNBC was the most frequently used experimental model, with frequent use of MDA-MB-231 cells and murine 4T1 models.
“Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) was the most frequently used experimental model [17,26,39,40,45], with frequent use of MDA-MB-231 cells and murine 4T1 models [17,20,27,39,40,45,54].”
From Nanoparticle-Mediated Radiosensitization in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review of Preclinical Evidence and Translational Challenges (2026) · cites this paper as [54]
Section 2.2.7.2 (page unavailable) describes a murine breast tumor model created with 4T1 cells, and section 2.2.6.3 uses 4T1 cells in vitro. This supports citing the paper as an example of a murine 4T1 model, but our copy does not establish that TNBC was the most frequently used model or that MDA-MB-231 cells were frequently used. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredReceptor-specific targeting approaches, including HER2-, CXCR4-, and folate-directed systems, were described in association with increased cellular uptake.
“Receptor-specific targeting approaches, including HER2-, CXCR4-, and folate-directed systems, were described in association with increased cellular uptake [20,24,29,51,54,55].”
From Nanoparticle-Mediated Radiosensitization in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review of Preclinical Evidence and Translational Challenges (2026) · cites this paper as [54]
Section 3.3.4 (page unavailable) reports that folic-acid conjugation enhanced nanoparticle internalization compared with non-targeted particles. The cited paper supports the folate-directed part of the sentence, but the passages do not describe HER2- or CXCR4-directed uptake. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMost studies employed both in vitro and in vivo approaches, whereas a smaller subset relied exclusively on a single model type.
“From an experimental standpoint, most studies employed both in vitro and in vivo approaches [17,20,27,39,54], whereas a smaller subset relied exclusively on a single model type [30,57,58].”
From Nanoparticle-Mediated Radiosensitization in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review of Preclinical Evidence and Translational Challenges (2026) · cites this paper as [54]
X-ray irradiation was the most frequently reported modality, whereas megavoltage radiation and radionuclide-based approaches were less commonly used.
“X-ray irradiation was the most frequently reported modality [17,20,27,34,54], whereas megavoltage radiation and radionuclide-based approaches were less commonly used [20,24,61,62].”
From Nanoparticle-Mediated Radiosensitization in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review of Preclinical Evidence and Translational Challenges (2026) · cites this paper as [54]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 76 · Cited by 60
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- S. Husain, M. Irfansyah, N.H. Haryanti, S. Suryajaya, S. Arjo, A. Maddu, Synthesis and characterization of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles from iron ore, J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 1242 (1) (2019), 012021.
- Authors
- Nosrati, H., Ghaffarlou, M., Salehiabar, M., Mousazadeh, N., Abhari, F., Barsbay, M., Ertas, Y. N., Rashidzadeh, H., Mohammadi, A., Nasehi, L., Rezaeejam, H., Davaran, S., Ramazani, A., Conde, J., & Danafar, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Zanjan (IR)
- Hacettepe University (TR)
- Erciyes University (TR)
- Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (IR)
- Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (IR)
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa (PT)
- Corresponding author
- Ramazani, Ali
- Conde, João
- Danafar, Hossein
- ORCID
- Venue
- Biomaterials Advances
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-09
- Volume
- 140
- Pages
- 213090
- ISSN
- 2772-9508 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4292641097
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 76
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 7
- FWCI
- 9.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Biomaterials Advances (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- European Research Council (848325)
- University of Zanjan
- Iran's National Elites Foundation
- Iran National Science Foundation
- Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (118C346)
- International Atomic Energy Agency (23192, F22070)
- Zanjan University of Medical Sciences
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Radiation › Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques
- Keywords
- Janus heterostructures, radiosensitizers, breast cancer, reactive oxygen species, radiation-induced DNA damage, folic acid targeting, bovine serum albumin coating, tumor accumulation, nanoparticle biocompatibility
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Bismuth, Breast Neoplasms, Female, Humans, Radiation-Sensitizing Agents, Serum Albumin, Bovine, Sulfides, Reactive Oxygen Species, Mice, Ferrosoferric Oxide, Metal Nanoparticles
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
