The High Radiosensitizing Efficiency of a Trace of Gadolinium-Based Nanoparticles in Tumors

Sandrine Dufort (1, 2) , Géraldine Le Duc (3) , Murielle Salomé (3) , Valerie Bentivegna (3) , Lucie Sancey (4) , Elke Bräuer-Krisch (3) , Herwig Requardt (3) , François Lux (4) , Jean-Luc Coll (2) , Pascal Perriat (5) , Stéphane Roux (6) , Olivier Tillement (4)

1 Nano-H SAS
2 Institut Albert Bonniot
3 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
4 ILM - Institut Lumière Matière [Villeurbanne]
5 MATEIS - Matériaux, ingénierie et science [Villeurbanne]
6 UTINAM - Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213)

We recently developed the synthesis of ultrasmall gadolinium-based nanoparticles (GBN), (hydrodynamic diameter <5 nm) characterized by a safe behavior after intravenous injection (renal clearance, preferential accumulation in tumors). Owing to the presence of gadolinium ions, GBN can be used as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and as radiosensitizers. The attempt to determine the most opportune delay between the intravenous injection of GBN and the irradiation showed that a very low content of radiosensitizing nanoparticles in the tumor area is sufficient (0.1 μg/g of particles, i.e. 15 ppb of gadolinium) for an important increase of the therapeutic effect of irradiation. Such a promising and unexpected result is assigned to a suited distribution of GBN within the tumor, as revealed by the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) maps.

Domaines: Cancer; Imagerie; Physique Médicale [physics.med-ph]; Chimie

Sandrine Dufort, Géraldine Le Duc, Murielle Salomé, Valerie Bentivegna, Lucie Sancey, et al.. The High Radiosensitizing Efficiency of a Trace of Gadolinium-Based Nanoparticles in Tumors. Scientific Reports, 2016, 6, pp.29678. ⟨10.1038/srep29678⟩. ⟨hal-01405772⟩