Development of a real-time tumor-tracking proton beam therapy with molecular imaging for intractable cancers using gold nanoparticles preparation

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26461876
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Radiation science
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Hashimoto Takayuki 北海道大学, 医学研究科, 特任准教授 (60400678)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HASHIMOTO Shintaro 独立行政法人日本原子力研究開発機構, 原子力基礎工学研究部門, 研究員 (60465995)
• Research Collaborator: Kwon Jihun ; Sutherland Kenneth L
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 金ナノ粒子 / 陽子線治療 / 難治性癌 / モンテカルロ法 / マイクロドシメトリ / 放射線増感効果

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We conducted basic researches for developing a novel proton beam therapy as one of the multimodal therapies to improve treatment results of intractable cancers using gold nanoparticles (GNPs) as a radiosensitizer. The spatial dose distributions and dose enhancement ratio around the proton beam axis in the presence and absence of a GNPs were calculated using the Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation toolkit under various conditions. GNPs form clusters when taken up by tumor cells and shield a part of secondary electrons. Our results suggest the improvement of treatment accuracy in clinical use, because the dose enhancement is overestimated without considering energy absorption by the clustered GNPs. It is necessary to evaluate the sufficient safety including animal test before clinical application of GNPs preparation, which is highly concentrated enough to distinguish the difference of CT value as the tumor imaging agent or the fiducial marker.

Free Research Field

放射線腫瘍学