Influence of Gold Nanoparticle Shape and Single-Cell Localization on Energy Deposition Efficiency and Irradiation Specificity in Photon Radiotherapy

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been investigated extensively in the past twenty years as a sensitizing agent in photon radiotherapy. Targeted delivery of AuNPs to specific sites in cells and tissues contributes to highly localized radiation dose enhancement, whereby the surrounding healthy structures can be largely spared from the unwanted radiation effects. The efficiency of introduced AuNPs with regard to dose enhancement depends on the properties of the nanoparticles since not all of deposited radiation energy reaches the intended biological target but is partially absorbed within the nanoparticles themselves or distributed elsewhere. The present paper investigates the influence of AuNP shape and localization on the enhancement and intracellular distribution of deposited energy in radiation therapy with photons. Energy deposition patterns are calculated with nanoscale accuracy through Monte Carlo simulations of radiation transport, which are optimized to accommodate a structured geometrical representation of the region loaded with AuNPs, i.e., to allow discrete modeling of individual nanoparticles. Same-volume nanoparticles of three commonly encountered shapes—nanospheres, nanorods, and square nanoplates—are examined, in order to inspect the differences in the propagation and absorption of secondary charged particles produced by the incident photons. Five different spatial distributions of spherical AuNPs at the single-cell level are studied in the simulations and compared according to the energy deposited in the cell nucleus. Photon energy, nanoparticle size, and concentration are also varied across simulation runs, and their influence is analyzed in connection to nanoparticle shape and localization. The obtained results reveal how the investigated nanoparticle properties affect their dose-enhancing ability and irradiation specificity in AuNP-augmented radiotherapy.