| چکیده | Introduction: Nowadays cancer is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. In radiotherapy, the ideal aim is delivering a lethal dose of radiation to the tumor cells so that healthy tissue around the tumor, have the least amount of exposure at the same time. One way to increase the dose only in the tumor cells is using high atomic number nanoparticles as radiosensitizers in these cells. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) were recently proposed as radiosensitizers in cancer radiation therapy. Material and methods: Dextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles at different concentrations (10, 40 and 80 µg/ml) were incubated with the MCF-7 cells for 24 hours, and afterward to evaluating the radiosensitivity, they irradiated with different doses (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 Gy) of 6 and 12 MeV electron beams energy. In this study the survival fraction of cells was evaluated by MTT assay. Result: Toxicity results showed that iron oxide nanoparticles at tested concentrations don’t have any significantly cytotoxicity effect (p>0.05), but the survival fraction in the group receiving radiation in the absence and presence of iron oxide nanoparticles showed significant differences, so that the average of dose enhancement factor in 10, 40 and 80 µg/ml for 6 MeV was obtained 1.26± 0.04, 1.28± 0.05 and 1.3±0.07 and for 12 MeV energy this factor was 1.3± 0.06, 1.32± 0.03 and 1.34±0.07 respectively. Conclusion: By using iron oxide nanoparticles coated with dextran, we can increase absorbed dose substantially, resulting in more ever cell killing in MCF-7 cancer cells. Thus these nanoparticles can improve the efficiency of radiotherapy. |