Barium nanoparticles enhance efficacy of external beam radiation therapy in a preclinical basal-like mammary cancer mouse model
Open accessAbstract
Abstract External beam radiation therapy (RT) using high energy x-rays is a commonly applied cancer treatment. A major advantage of RT is its unspecific nature which allows using RT in many cancer entities. RT however causes the well-known side effects on healthy tissue in the irradiated areas. Therefore, enhancing the efficacy of RT at the tumor site while simultaneously lowering the overall radiation dose has been a long term goal. Heavy metal-based contrast agents such as gold, hafnium, gadolinium and iodine have already been proposed as radio-enhancers and are partially in clinical trials. Here we present barium sulphate (BaSO4) nanoparticles as novel radio-enhancer for RT validated in a syngenic mouse breast cancer model. We demonstrate that these particles in combination with low energy RT significantly reduced tumor growth when compared to untreated controls and tumors that received RT only. Despite the fact that the absorption probability decreases with increasing photon energy, we see a stronger anti-tumoral effect at energies around 90 keV which would allow a translation of this approach into a clinical RT setting. Due to the strong contrast of barium in computed tomography such (BaSO4) nanoparticles could be used for both, better tumor delineation as well as for enhancing RT response.
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?
Most 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 [58]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis
Schindelin, J., Arganda-Carreras, I., Frise, E., Kaynig, V., Longair, M., Pietzsch, T., Preibisch, S., Rueden, C., Saalfeld, S., Schmid, B., et al. (2012) · Nature Methods · doi:10.1038/nmeth.2019 · Cited by 66,890 · see citing works
Phase I and Pharmacokinetic Studies of CYT-6091, a Novel PEGylated Colloidal Gold-rhTNF Nanomedicine
Libutti, S. K., Paciotti, G. F., Byrnes, A. A., Alexander, H. R., Gannon, W. E., Walker, M., Seidel, G., Yuldasheva, N., & Tamarkin, L. (2010) · Clinical Cancer Research · doi:10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-10-0978 · Cited by 717 · see citing works
Cancer as a robust system: implications for anticancer therapy
Kitano, H. (2004) · Nature reviews. Cancer · doi:10.1038/nrc1300 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
Nanoparticles for Radiation Therapy Enhancement: the Key Parameters
Retif, P., Pinel, S., Toussaint, M., Frochot, C., Chouikrat, R., Bastogne, T., & Barberi‐Heyob, M. (2015) · Theranostics · doi:10.7150/thno.11642 · Cited by 383 · see citing works
Deng, J., Xu, S., Hu, W., Xun, X., Zheng, L., & Su, M. (2018) · Biomaterials · doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.10.048 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
The Impact of Radiation on the Tumor Microenvironment: Effect of Dose and Fractionation Schedules
Arnold, K. M., Flynn, N. J., Raben, A., Romak, L. B., Yu, Y., Dicker, A. P., Mourtada, F., & Sims‐Mourtada, J. (2018) · Cancer Growth and Metastasis · doi:10.1177/1179064418761639 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
Gold nanoparticles and their alternatives for radiation therapy enhancement
Cooper, D. R., Bekah, D., & Nadeau, J. (2014) · Frontiers in Chemistry · doi:10.3389/fchem.2014.00086 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Advances in micro-CT imaging of small animals
Clark, D. P., & Badea, C. T. (2021) · Physica Medica · doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2021.07.005 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Brun, F., Pacilè, S., Accardo, A., et al. (2015) · Fundamenta Informaticae · doi:10.3233/fi-2015-1273 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Hafnium-doped hydroxyapatite nanoparticles with ionizing radiation for lung cancer treatment
Chen, M., Hanagata, N., Ikoma, T., Huang, J.-Y., Li, K.-Y., Lin, C., & Lin, F. (2016) · Acta Biomaterialia · doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2016.04.004 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Prospects of nanoparticle-based radioenhancement for radiotherapy
Gerken, L. R. H., Gerdes, M. E., Pruschy, M. N., & Herrmann, I. K. (2023) · Materials Horizons · doi:10.1039/d3mh00265a · Cited by 106 · see citing works
CFAssay: statistical analysis of the colony formation assay
Braselmann, H., Michna, A., Heß, J., & Unger, K. (2015) · Radiation Oncology · doi:10.1186/s13014-015-0529-y · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Catalytic activity imperative for nanoparticle dose enhancement in photon and proton therapy
Gerken, L. R. H., Gogos, A., Starsich, F. H. L., David, H., Gerdes, M. E., Schiefer, H., Psoroulas, S., Meer, D., Plaßwilm, L., Weber, D. C., et al. (2022) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-30982-5 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
The role of recent nanotechnology in enhancing the efficacy of radiation therapy
Bergs, J. W. J., Wacker, M. G., Hehlgans, S., Piiper, A., Multhoff, G., Rödel, C. M., & Rödel, F. (2015) · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Cancer · doi:10.1016/j.bbcan.2015.06.008 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Tumour and normal tissue radiobiology in mouse models: how close are mice to mini-humans?
Koontz, B. F., Verhaegen, F., & Ruysscher, D. D. (2016) · British Journal of Radiology · doi:10.1259/bjr.20160441 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Rajaee, A., Wang, S., Zhao, L., Wang, D., Liu, Y., Wang, J., & Ying, K. (2019) · Physics in Medicine and Biology · doi:10.1088/1361-6560/ab2154 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
A phase 1 dose-escalation study of RiMO-301 with palliative radiation in advanced tumors.
Koshy, M., Spiotto, M. T., Feldman, L. E., et al. (2023) · Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1200/jco.2023.41.16_suppl.2527 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Changes in radiotherapy fractionation—breast cancer
Yarnold, J. R. (2018) · British Journal of Radiology · doi:10.1259/bjr.20170849 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Dullin, C., Lillo, F. D., Svetlove, A., et al. (2020) · Physics Open · doi:10.1016/j.physo.2020.100050 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Self-citationNanoparticles for MRI-guided radiation therapy: a review
Smith, L., Byrne, H. L., Waddington, D. E. J., & Kuncic, Z. (2022) · Cancer Nanotechnology · doi:10.1186/s12645-022-00145-8 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Enhanced Cancer Therapy by Combining Radiation and Chemical Effects Mediated by Nanocarriers
Denkova, A. G., Liu, H., Men, Y., & Eelkema, R. (2020) · Advanced Therapeutics · doi:10.1002/adtp.201900177 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Complementary Strategies for the Management of Radiation Therapy Side Effects
Stubbe, C., & Meighan Valero, N. (2013) · Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology · doi:10.6004/jadpro.2013.4.4.3 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Transcription factors link mouse WAP‐T mammary tumors with human breast cancer
Otto, B., Streichert, T., Wegwitz, F., Gevensleben, H., Klätschke, K., Wagener, C., Deppert, W., & Tolstonog, G. V. (2012) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.27941 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Jannasch, K., Dullin, C., Heinlein, C., Krepulat, F., Wegwitz, F., Deppert, W., & Alves, F. (2009) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.24332 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Self-citationFuture Radiation Therapy: Photons, Protons and Particles
Allison, R. R., Sibata, C. H., & Patel, R. (2013) · Future Oncology · doi:10.2217/fon.13.13 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Lenfert, E., Maenz, C., Heinlein, C., et al. (2014) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.29186 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Maenz, C., Lenfert, E., Pantel, K., Schumacher, U., Deppert, W., & Wegwitz, F. (2015) · BMC Cancer · doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1165-5 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Jannasch, K., Wegwitz, F., Lenfert, E., et al. (2014) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.29369 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Ex vivo Live Cell Imaging of Nanoparticle-Cell Interactions in the Mouse Lung
Ramos‐Gomes, F., Ferreira, N. L. C., Kraupner, A., et al. (2020) · Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology · doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.588922 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citationOral CT Contrast Agents: What's New and Why, From the AJR Special Series on Contrast Media
Heimer, M. M., Sun, Y., Bonitatibus, P. J., et al. (2023) · American Journal of Roentgenology · doi:10.2214/ajr.23.29970 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Pantelaiou‐Prokaki, G., Reinhardt, O., Georges, N. S., Agorku, D., Hardt, O., Prokakis, E., Mieczkowska, I. K., Deppert, W., Wegwitz, F., & Alves, F. (2023) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.34429 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Self-citationFuentes, G. D., Rodriguez, M. J., Matthew, G., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics · doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2022.07.1124 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Lunca, S., Morarasu, S., & Dimofte, G. M. (2026) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms27146522 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“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].”
- Authors
- Albers, J., Markus, A., Svetlove, A., Kraupner, A., Briel, A., Alves, F., & Dullin, C.
- Affiliations
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY (DE)
- NanoPET Pharma (Germany) (DE)
- Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (DE)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Dullin, Christian
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2025-05-30
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19090-19090
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC12125400
- OpenAlex
- W4410886487
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1
- FWCI
- 1.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- GoeScholar The Publication Server of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Herzzentrum Göttingen
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Radiation › Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
- Keywords
- external beam radiotherapy, basal-like breast cancer, low-energy X-rays, tumor growth inhibition, photon energy dependence, CT contrast agents, tumor delineation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Barium, Barium Sulfate, Contrast Media, Disease Models, Animal, Female, Cell Line, Tumor, Mice, Nanoparticles, 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
