A new strategy based on polyethylene glycol coated gold nanoparticles to enhance the sensitivity of radiotherapy for glioma

Abstract

Radiotherapy (RT), as an essential method for glioma treatment, can effectively kill tumor cells. However, radiation resistance of blood–brain barrier and glioma cells leads to poor efficacy of RT, which cannot effectively improve the survival time of patients. Therefore, designing methods to improve the sensitivity of glioma cells to radiation is the key to improve the effect of RT. We propose a novel strategy for radiosensitizing glioma cells based on gold nanoparticles coated with polyethylene glycol. Results of clone formation experiments demonstrated that the Au NPs@PEG radiosensitization ratio (SER) was as high as 1.74, which effectively improved the killing effect of X-rays on the tumor. We successfully established a glioma mouse model and applied Au NPs@PEG to RT. Results of in vivo experiments showed that Au NPs@PEG combined with X-rays can significantly reduce the expression of tumor-related molecules and effectively inhibit the process of tumor invasion, proliferation, and migration.