Designing Core–Shell Gold and Selenium Nanocomposites for Cancer Radiochemotherapy

Radiotherapy is an important regime for treating malignant tumors. There is interest in the development of radiosensitizers to increase the local treatment efficacy under a relatively low and safe radiation dose. In this study, we designed Au@Se-R/A nanocomposites (Au@Se-R/A NCs) as nano-radiosensitizer to realize synergistic radiochemotherapy based on the radiotherapy sensitization property of Au nanorods (NRs) and antitumor activity of Se NPs. In vitro studies show that the combined treatment of A375 melanoma cells in culture with NCs and X-ray induces cell apoptosis through alteration in expression of p53 and DNA-damaging genes and triggers intracellular ROS overproduction, leading to greatly enhanced anticancer efficacy. Further studies using clinically used radiotherapy equipment demonstrate that the combined treatment of NCs and X-ray significantly inhibits the tumor growth in vivo and shows negligible acute toxicity to the major organs. Taken together, this study provides a strategy for clinical translation application of nanomedicne in cancer radiochemotherapy.