Gold nanoparticles enhance the X-ray-induced degradation of human centrin 2 protein

In the war against cancer, radiotherapy is a prominent tool but counterbalanced by the fact that it also induces damages in healthy tissues. Nanotechnologies could open a new possibility to decrease these side effects. In particular, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) could be used as radio-sensitizers. As the role of proteins in the processes leading to cell death cannot be neglected, their radio-sensitization by GNPs is of great interest. This is particularly true in the case of the human centrin 2 protein, which has been proposed to be involved in DNA repair processes. To investigate this effect, we quantified for the first time the degradation of this protein in a gold colloidal solution when submitted to X-rays. We showed that the X-ray-induced degradation of the human centrin 2 protein is enhanced 1.5-fold in the presence of GNPs, even though no covalent bond exists between protein and GNPs. Among the conditions tested, the maximum enhancement was found with the higher GNP:protein ratio of 2×10−4 and with the higher X-ray energy of 49 keV.