Hollow Gold Nanoparticles as Efficient In Vivo Radiosensitizing Agents for Radiation Therapy of Breast Cancer

High-Z nanoplatforms based on silver, gadolinium, platinum, gold, and bismuth enhance radiation-induced energy deposition through photoelectric interactions and secondary electron generation.

“High-atomic-number (high-Z) nanoplatforms based on silver (Z = 47), gadolinium (Z = 64), platinum (Z = 78), gold (Z = 79), and bismuth (Z = 83) enhance radiation-induced energy deposition through photoelectric interactions and secondary electron generation [15,20,27,28,30,33,34,36,50,63].”

Combined treatment was associated with greater tumor growth delay or regression compared to radiotherapy alone.

“Combined treatment was associated with greater tumor growth delay or regression compared to radiotherapy alone [17,20,39,40,43,50,63,80].”

While ROS amplification and DNA damage remain the most consistently reported foundational processes, nanoplatforms combining physical dose enhancement with biologically active components such as hypoxia-targeting systems, catalytic redox modulators, or immune-related approaches demonstrate more robust and sustained antitumor effects across preclinical models.

“While ROS amplification and DNA damage remain the most consistently reported foundational processes [15,20,30,33,63], nanoplatforms combining physical dose enhancement with biologically active components, such as hypoxia-targeting systems, catalytic redox modulators, or immune-related approaches, demonstrate more robust and sustained antitumor effects across preclinical models [17,19,21,26,39,45,”

The earliest and most extensively investigated approach is conventional radiotherapy enhancement based on high-atomic-number nanomaterials, including gold, silver, platinum, bismuth, gadolinium, and hafnium-containing nanoparticles.

“The earliest and most extensively investigated approach is conventional radiotherapy enhancement based on high-atomic-number (high-Z) nanomaterials, including gold, silver, platinum, bismuth, gadolinium, and hafnium-containing nanoparticles [15,20,27,28,30,33,34,36,50,63].”

Detailed dosimetric characterization was frequently lacking, reducing reproducibility and limiting radiobiological interpretation.

“Radiation parameters were inconsistently reported, with considerable variability in total dose, fractionation schedules, beam energy, dose rate, and irradiation modality [15,20,24,30,52,63,74], while detailed dosimetric characterization was frequently lacking, reducing reproducibility and limiting radiobiological interpretation.”

Radiation parameters were inconsistently reported, with considerable variability in total dose, fractionation schedules, beam energy, dose rate, and irradiation modality.

“Radiation parameters were inconsistently reported, with considerable variability in total dose, fractionation schedules, beam energy, dose rate, and irradiation modality [15,20,24,30,52,63,74], while detailed dosimetric characterization was frequently lacking, reducing reproducibility and limiting radiobiological interpretation.”