Meta-analysis of Radio Sensitivity Enhancement by Gold Nanoparticles in Tumor-Bearing Mice

Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) have been extensively studied as radio-sensitizers due to their significant photoelectric absorption coefficient, compact size, and excellent biocompatibility. Although several research evaluated the role of Au NPs in radio sensitization, most of them were in vitro. At the same time, only a small number of studies analyzed this role at the in vivo level. This study aims to address the improvement of radio-sensitization by Au NPs in tumor-bearing mice by meta-analysis. The Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Medline, and PubMed were used in this study. Thirty-six relevant studies investigated the efficacy of Au NPs as radio-sensitizers. Out of these studies, thirty-three studies were excluded; only three studies were eligible for analysis. This study was performed on only three articles that were eligible containing eleven trial comparisons and 189 mice. For the 189 mice that were used in three experiments, statistics on overall survival were available for 89 animals in the treatment group (radiation therapy with Au NPs) and 100 mice in the control group (radiation therapy alone). The pooled odds ratio (ORs) comparing experimental with control in the pooled study was 3.38 (95 percent CI, 1.74-6.56; P=0.0003). This finding demonstrates a correlation between increased survival rates and the use of Au NPs in radiotherapy. This study showed that Au NPs considerably impact on radio-sensitization and radiation therapy effectiveness in tumor-bearing mice.