Systemic chemotherapy has lost its position to treat cancer over the past years mainly due to drug resistance, side effects, and limited survival ratio. Among a plethora of local drug delivery systems to solve this issue, the combinatorial strategy of chemo-hyperthermia has recently received attention. Herein we developed a magneto-thermal nanocarrier consisted of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) coated by a blend formulation of a three-block copolymer Pluronic F127 and F68 on the oleic acid (OA) in which Curcumin as a natural and chemical anti-cancer agent was loaded. The subsequent nanocarrier SPION@OA-F127/F68-Cur was designed with a controlled gelation temperature of the shell, which could consequently control the release of curcumin. The release was systematically studied as a function of temperature and pH, via response surface methodology (RSM). The bone tumor killing efficacy of the released curcumin from the carrier in combination with the hyperthermia was studied on MG-63 osteosarcoma cells through Alamar blue assay, live-dead staining and apoptosis caspase 3/7 activation kit. It was found that the shrinkage of the F127/F68 layer stimulated by elevated temperature in an alternative magnetic field caused the curcumin release. Although the maximum release concentration and cell death took place at 45 °C, treatment at 41 °C was chosen as the optimum condition due to considerable cell apoptosis and lower side effects of mild hyperthermia. The cell metabolic activity results confirmed the synergistic effects of curcumin and hyperthermia in killing MG-63 osteosarcoma cells.
Radiation therapy plays a pivotal role in modern cancer treatment, demanding precise and accurate dose delivery to tumor sites while minimizing harm to surrounding healthy tissues. Monte Carlo simulations have emerged as indispensable tools for achieving this precision, offering detailed insights into radiation transport and interaction at the subatomic level. As the use of scintillation and luminescence dosimetry becomes increasingly prevalent in radiation therapy, there arises a need for validated Monte Carlo tools tailored to optical photon transport applications. In this paper, an evaluation process of the TOPAS (TOol for PArticle Simulation) Monte Carlo tool for Cerenkov light generation, optical photon transport and radioluminescence based dosimetry is presented. Three distinct sources of validation data are utilized: one from a published set of experimental results and two others from simulations performed with the Geant4 code. The methodology employed for evaluation includes the selection of benchmark experiments, making use of opt3 and opt4 Geant4 physics models and simulation setup, with observed slight discrepancies within the calculation uncertainties. Additionally, the complexities and challenges associated with modeling optical photons generation through luminescence or Cerenkov radiation and their transport are discussed. The results of our evaluation suggests that TOPAS can be used to reliably predict Cerenkov generation, luminescence phenomenon and the behavior of optical photons in common dosimetry scenarios.