Nanoparticle surface and nanocore properties determine the effect on radiosensitivity of cancer cells upon ionizing radiation treatment.

For correctly selected and reasonably designed nanoscale radiosensitizers, it is necessary to investigate whether nanoparticle (NPs) coatings, nanocores (we defined it as naked NPs) or other precursors cause cellular response upon ionizing radiation (IR) at first. In this paper, we mainly discussed the effect of nanoparticle surface and nanocore properties on anti-proliferation of cancer cells upon IR treatment. We examined different kinds of modifiers of the same nanocores, as well as distinct nanocores with the same surface. We obtained some different results and demonstrated silver NPs would have significant radiosensitization on cancer cells in virtue of the nanocore property.