MODIFICATION OF CELL SURVIVAL RATES BY CERIUM OXIDE NANOPARTICLES FOR EXPOSURE TO PROTON RADIATION

Radiation therapy is a well-established and widely used treatment for a variety of malignancies in the human body. Current radiotherapy methods most frequently use x-rays to deliver a lethal dose to tumors with sufficient energy to initiate apoptosis in the tumor cells. The use of charged particle radiation, instead of x-rays, has become increasingly more common over the last decade to reduce damage to healthy tissue during treatment. Metallic nanoparticles and their potential applications as radioprotectors and/or radiosensitizers have also become expanding areas of research in radiation therapy. Much of the research on nanoparticles as radiosensitizers has focused on their use with photon radiotherapy, and very few studies have been conducted to investigate nanoparticle treatments with particle radiation. In this study, we have developed experiments to test the effects of various cerium oxide nanoparticle types in the 22Rv1, MCF7, and 184A1 cell lines. Tumor cells cultured in the ECU Cell Culture Laboratory were irradiated in the ECU Particle Accelerator Laboratory. Cell damage was assessed by multiple assays. Results indicate that radiosensitization to proton radiation by cerium oxide nanoparticle treatment is highly dependent upon the cell line, the type of nanoparticles administered, and the concentration of the nanoparticles that were administered