Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation of absorbed dose and radiolysis yields enhancement
from a gold nanoparticle under MeV proton irradiation
H. N. Trana,b,*, M. Karamitrosc, V. N. Ivanchenkod, S. Guatellie,f, S. McKinnone,f, K.
Murakamig, T. Sasakig, S. Okadag, M.C. Bordageh,i, Z. Francisj, Z. EL Bitark, M. A. Bernall,
J. I. Shinm, S. B. Leen, Ph. Barbereto,p, T.T. Tranq, J. M. C. Brownr, T. V. Nhan Haos,t, S.
Incertia,b,o,p
a
Division of Nuclear Physics, Ton Duc Thang University, Tan Phong Ward, District 7, Ho
Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
b
Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton Duc Thang University, Tan Phong Ward, District 7, Ho
Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
c
Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory, University of Notre-Dame, Indiana 46556, USA
d
Geant4 Associate International Ltd, Hebden Bridge, U.K.
e
Centre For Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Australia
f
Illawarra Health and Medical Research, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
g
Computing Research Center, High Energy Accelerator Organization, KEK, Tsukuba City,
Japan
h
i
j
INSERM, UMR 1037, CRCT, F-31000 Toulouse, France
Univ. Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier, UMR 1037, CRCT, F-31000 Toulouse, France
Saint Joseph University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, Beirut, Lebanon
k
Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien/IN2P3/CNRS, Strasbourg, France
l
Instituto de FísicaGlebWataghin, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP, Brazil
m
Division of Heavy Ion Clinical Research, Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical
Science, 75, Nowon-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Korea
n
Proton Therapy Center, National Cancer Center, 323, Ilsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu,Goyang-si,
Gyeonggi-do, Korea
o
Univ. Bordeaux, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France.
p
CNRS, IN2P3, CENBG, UMR 5797, F-33170 Gradignan, France.
q
VNUHCM-University of Science, Vietnam.
r
School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
s
Department of Physics, College of Education, Hue University, 34 Le Loi Street, Hue City,
Vietnam
t
Center for Theoretical and Computational Physics, College of Education, Hue Univesity, 34
Le Loi Street, Hue City, Vietnam
Abstract
Gold nanoparticles have been reported as possible radio-sensitizer agents in tumor radiation
therapy, in particular through the increase of local energy deposition in close vicinity of the
nanoparticles and subsequent direct damage to cells and DNA. Moreover, indirect damage
originating from the increased production of chemical species induced by such additional
energy deposition events around nanoparticles could also significantly contribute to cellular
damage. In this work, we present for the first time a Monte Carlo simulation calculating
energy deposition and radical species production around a gold nanoparticle of 50 nmdiameter, using the general purpose Geant4 simulation toolkit. The simulations are performed
for incident proton energies ranging from 2 MeV to 170 MeV, which are of interest for
clinical proton therapy. The Geant4-DNA extension was adopted in this study to model both
the very low energy physics processes, the physico-chemistry and chemistry processes. This
work clearly shows that the concentration of chemical species (such as e-aq, H2, H•, •OH,
H3O+, OH-, H2O2) in liquid water is significantly increased around a gold nanoparticle
immersed in liquid water and irradiated by incident MeV protons.