2Department of Bio-Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kırıkkale University, Kırıkkale-Turkey DOI : 10.5505/tjo.2019.911 OBJECTIVE
Radiotherapy is an essential part of cancer management, and about two-thirds of the patients with cancer receive radiation therapy during their treatment. The healthy structures around the tumor are dose limiting in terms of acute and late toxicity. Radiosensitizers (RSs) can be used to enhance intratumoral dose, thus improving the therapeutic ratio. We aimed to investigate the cytotoxicity on normal and cancer cell lines induced by interaction between MV photon irradiation and polyethyleneimine (PEI)- coated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs).
METHODS
The effects of different concentrations of AuNPs (0.75 ?g/ml, 0.5 ?g/ml, 0.25 ?g/ml, and only medium)
and 2 Gy ionizing radiation (IR) were investigated on the L929 fibroblast, DLD-1 colon, and H1299 lung
cancer cell lines. Cytoplasmic and nuclear membranes treated with hematoxylin and eosin and double
staining were evaluated with light and fluorescence microscopy. Cytotoxicity was determined with the
WST-1 method.
RESULTS
All particles were spherical in shape with 60.98 nm in size. Cell surviving ratios without AuNPs were
96.34% in L929, 89.68% in DLD-1, and 76.93% in H1299 for a single 2-Gy radiation. These ratios were
94.2%, 62.58%, and 40.52% for L929 cells; 72.70%, 41.15%, and 26.71% for DLD-1 cells; and 34.72%,
28.27%, and 17.84% for H1299 cells at concentrations of 0.25 ?g/ml, 0.5 ?g/ml, and 0.75 ?g/ml AuNPs,
respectively.
CONCLUSION
At increased concentrations, isolated unwanted cytotoxic effects of AuNPs could be observed. Radiosensitizing
effect of PEI-coated AuNPs depends on cell type and AuNP concentration.