Investigation of Gold Nanoparticles Effects in Radiation Therapy of Cancer: A Systematic Review

Background and Objective: In recent years, the use of nanoparticles (NPs), especially gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in radiotherapy, has been repeatedly studied by in-vitro, in-vivo experiments, and Monte Carlo simulation. Some studies declare that specific absorption of GNPs (with a higher atomic number) by cancerous cells increases radiations’ lethal effect compared to normal cells. This review article aimed to investigate the radiosensitizing effect of GNPs in cancer radiotherapy. Materials and Methods: Research databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus were examined from December 2019. All Gold Nanoparticles Radiation Therapy (GNRT) articles that studied the radiosensitization of gold nanoparticles in radiotherapy were involved in the assessment. Among 706 chosen articles, 52 documents were included in this investigation. Results: The results of all these studies indicate that an increase in tumor mortality happens due to higher radiation absorption by nanoparticles entering the tumor; however, the relationship between the interaction of radiant energy and the size of gold nanoparticles is controversial. Conclusion: This review article will discuss recent advances in the development of gold-based NPs to improve radiotherapy.