Study on the Dose Enhancement of Gold Nanoparticles When Exposed to Clinical Electron, Proton, and Alpha Particle Beams by Means of Geant4.

Background: Various factors effecting deposited energy and dose enhancement ratio (DER) in the simplified model of cell caused by the interaction of a cluster of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with electron beams were assessed, and the results were compared with other sources through Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation toolkit.

Method: The effect of added GNPs on the DNA strand breaks level, irradiated to electron, proton, and alpha beams, is assessed.

Results: Presence of GNPs in the cell makes DER value more pronounced for low-energy photons rather than electron beam.