Silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles as a novel nano-radiosensitizer for electron therapy.

Aims: Conventional radiotherapy is mainly restricted by the low radiation absorption efficiency of tumors tissues and the hypoxic tumor cells radio-resistance. In this paper, novel nano-radiosensitizers, magnetic nanoparticles core coated with silica, were successfully prepared to overcome these limitations.

Main Methods: The prepared nanoparticles have been characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS), atomic force microscope (AFM) and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM). MTT cytotoxicity and DNA double-strand breaks (Comet) assays have been used to assess the radio-enhancing effect of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (IO-MNPs) and silica-coated iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (SIO-MNPs) against MCF7 breast cancer cells. MCF7 cells were treated with different concentrations of the prepared nanoformulations and exposed to an electron beam at doses 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 Gy.

Key Findings: DLS measurements revealed that the main hydrodynamic diameter of the prepared IO-MNPs and SIO-MNPs was 18.17 ± 4.5 nm and 164.18 ± 16.1 nm, respectively, which was confirmed by TEM micrographs. MTT and comet assays results showed that the radiosensitizing effect of the prepared nanoformulations was dose and concentration dependent. Interestingly, the dose enhancement factor (DEF) for SIO-MNPs was, on average, 1.3-fold greater than that of IO-MNPs.

Significance: Coating of IO-MNPs with silica led to enhance their electron radiosensitization and consequently their therapeutic efficacy. Therefore, SIO-MNPs represent a promising engineered nano-formulation for enhancing breast cancer radiosensitivity.