| Traditional radiation therapy is limited by the radiotoxic effects on surrounding healthy tissues. This project investigated the use of a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) conjugated to a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) to increase tumour cell death during radiotherapy by maximizing the cellular import of the gold nanoparticles. ∼8300 octaarginine CPPs were coupled per 30 nm AuNP through poly(ethylene glycol) spacers (AuNP-PEG-CPP). The CPPs enhanced the internalization of the AuNPs into three human breast cancer cell lines by a factor >2 as compared to untargeted AuNPs. Cells were treated with AuNP-PEG-CPP for 24 hours, prior to radiotherapy and their long-term proliferation was assessed in clonogenic assays. The increased internalization of AuNPs by the CPPs resulted in greater cell death following exposure to 300 kVp radiotherapy, by a dose enhancement factors between 1.3 and 2.1 depending on the cell line. These findings illustrate the potential of using AuNP-CPPs to enhance radiotherapy in patients. |
