Simulation of radioactive gold nanoparticles functionalized with Gum Arabic glycoprotein in liver cancer therapy

The therapeutic properties of radioactive gold nanoparticles (198-AuNPs) (β_max=0.96 MeV, t_1/2=2.7 days) and target specific biomolecule were used to form a powerful radiopharmaceutical for targeted drug delivery. The pharmacokinetics and biodistribution studies of Gum Arabic (GA) glycoprotein coated 198-AuNPs in mice showed greater than 80% uptake in the liver with minimal accumulation in blood and other organs. In this paper, energy deposition of GA-198-AuNPs in tumors with different sizes was simulated using Monte Carlo simulation. For simplicity, it is assumed that the distribution of AuNPs is surface distribution which means all NPs accumulate at the surface of the tumor. GA glycoprotein functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) possess optimized sizes (12-18 nm core diameter and 85 nm hydrodynamic diameter) to target individual tumor cells. The simulation shows activities and absorbed doses in the tumors with 0.25cm and 0.5cm radius were 187.9mCi, 72Gy and 300mCi, 118 Gy respectively.