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To solve the traditional radiotherapy obstacles, and also to enhance the radiation therapy efficacy various radiosensitizers have been developed. Radiosensitizers are promising agents that under X-ray irradiation enhance injury to tumor tissue by accelerating DNA damage. In this report, silver-silver sulfide nanoparticles (Ag-Ag2S NPs) were synthesized via a facile, one-pot and environmentally friendly biomineralization method. Ag-Ag2S was coated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) in situ and applied as an X-ray sensitizer to enhance the efficiency of radiotherapy. Also, folic acid (FA) was conjugated to Ag-Ag2S@BSA to impart active targeting capability to the final formulation (Ag-Ag2S@BSA-FA). Prepared NPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. Results show that most of the NPs have well-defined uniform Janus structures. The biocompatibility of the NPs was then evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. A series of in vitro assays were performed on 4T1 cancer cells to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the designed NPs. In addition, the radio-enhancing ability of the NPs was tested on the 4T1 breast cancer murine model. MTT, live and dead cell staining, apoptosis, ROS generation, and clonogenic in vitro assays demonstrated the efficacy of NPs as radiosensitizers in radiotherapy. In vivo results as well as H&E staining tumor tissues confirmed tumor destruction in the group that received Ag-Ag2S@BSA-FA NPs and exposed to X-ray. The results showed that prepared tumor-targeted Ag-Ag2S@BSA-FA NPs could be potential candidates as radiosensitizers for enhanced radiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noble metals as high atomic number elements can localize X-ray radiation within tumor cells by exploiting different mechanisms. Here, alginate (Alg)-coated platinum nanoparticles (Pt@Alg) were synthesized, characterized, and implemented as a radiosensitizer to enhance X-ray therapeutic efficacy in breast cancer in vitro and in vivo. Alg not only improves the biocompatibility of the radioenhancer, but also stabilizes the nanoparticles. Pt@Alg was studied by different characterization methods including DLS, STEM, Fe-SEM, XRD, XPS, FT-IR and UV–Vis spectrophotometry. The nanosystem provided a higher level of intracellular ROS in malignant cells and enhanced cancer cell death under X-Ray irradiation. Clonogenic assay also demonstrated the radiosensitizing properties of the nanosystem, in vitro. In vivo result show tumor growth restraining properties of the nanosystem when it was administrated along with X-Ray irradiation. Histopathology results confirmed the impact of nanosystem and X-ray co-treatment, as well. Altogether, the importance of radiosensitizers for improving radiotherapy outcomes was highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]