• Effects of copper sulphide nanoparticles as a radio-sensitizer agent on colorectal cancer cells
  • Soraya Emamgholizadeh Minaei,1,*
    1. Department of Medical Physics and Imaging, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.


  • Introduction: One of the greatest challenges in radiation therapy (RT) is the side effects of high doses due to considerations of adjacent healthy tissue radiation tolerance. In addition, radio-resistance of cancer cells is a major issue in radiation therapy. Consequently, it would be significantly important to develop new approaches to enhance the treatment efficacy. Here, we examined the potential of Fe3O4@Cus-PEG nanoparticles as a radiosensitizer agent.
  • Methods: Nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized for hydrodynamic diameter, morphology, and X-ray diffraction. MTT assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles on colorectal cancer cell lines. To evaluating the in vitro radio-sensitization effects of the synthesized nanoparticles, colorectal cancer cells were treated with ionizing radiation and nanoparticles. The cytotoxic effects of different treatments were assessed by the MTT assay, reactive oxygen species analysis, and quantitative real-time PCR (q-RT PCR) assay.
  • Results: Our in vitro assays demonstrated that the intracellular hydrogen peroxide concentration and the expression level of Bax and Caspase-3 genes significantly increased in the cells treated with the combination of nanoparticles and radiation. Whereas, the expression level of the Bcl-2 gene in the combined treatment significantly decreased compared to the radiation alone. The combination index (CI) values for the combined treatments of nanoparticles and X-ray radiation at doses of 2, 4, and 6Gy were equal to 0.88 ± 0.03, 0.73 ± 0.3, and 0.67 ± 0.02, respectively.
  • Conclusion: This study suggests that Fe3O4@Cus-PEG nanoparticles can be used as a promising nano radio-sensitizing agent
  • Keywords: Colorectal cancer, Radiosensitizer, Ionizing radiation, Copper, Magnetite nanoparticles