Fast Monte Carlo simulation of DNA damage induction by Auger-electron emission

Radiation-induced DNA damage by proton, helium and carbon ions in human fibroblast cell: Geant4-DNA and MCDS-based study

Background. Radiation-induced DNA damages such as Single Strand Break (SSB), Double Strand Break (DSB) and Complex DSB (cDSB) are critical aspects of radiobiology with implications in radiotherapy and radiation protection applications.Materials and Methods. This study presents a thorough investigation into the effects of protons (0.1-100 MeV/u), helium ions (0.13-100 MeV/u) and carbon ions (0.5-480 MeV/u) on DNA of human fibroblast cells using Geant4-DNA track structure code coupled with DBSCAN algorithm and Monte Carlo Damage Simulations (MCDS) code. Geant4-DNA-based simulations consider 1μm × 1μm × 0.5μm water box as the target to calculate energy deposition on event-by-event basis and the three-dimensional coordinates of the interaction location, and then DBSCAN algorithm is used to calculate yields of SSB, DSB and cDSB in human fibroblast cell. The study investigated the influence of Linear Energy Transfer (LET) of protons, helium ions and carbon ions on the yields of DNA damages. Influence of cellular oxygenation on DNA damage patterns is investigated using MCDS code.Results. The study shows that DSB and SSB yields are influenced by the LET of the particles, with distinct trends observed for different particles. The cellular oxygenation is a key factor, with anoxic cells exhibiting reduced SSB and DSB yields, underscoring the intricate relationship between cellular oxygen levels and DNA damage. The study introduced DSB/SSB ratio as an informative metric for evaluating the severity of radiation-induced DNA damage, particularly in higher LET regions.Conclusions. The study highlights the importance of considering particle type, LET, and cellular oxygenation in assessing the biological effects of ionizing radiation.

Impact of gadolinium concentration and cell oxygen levels on radiobiological characteristics of gadolinium neutron capture therapy technique in brain tumor treatment

Neutron capture therapy (NCT) with various concentrations of gadolinium (157Gd) is one of the treatment modalities for glioblastoma (GBM) tumors. Current study aims to evaluate how variations of 157Gd concentration and cell oxygen levels can affect the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of gadolinium neutron capture therapy (GdNCT) technique through a hybrid Monte Carlo (MC) simulation approach. At first, Snyder phantom including a spherical tumor was simulated by Geant4 MC code and relevant energy electron spectra to different 157Gd concentrations including 100, 250, 500, and 1000 ppm were calculated following the neutron irradiation of simulated phantom. Scored energy electron spectra were then imported to Monte Carlo damage simulation (MCDS) code to estimate RBE values (both RBESSB and RBEDSB) at different gadolinium concentrations and oxygen levels from 10 to 100%. The results indicate that variations of 157Gd can affect the energy spectrum of released secondary electrons including Auger electrons. Variation of gadolinium concentration from 100 to 1000 ppm in tumor region can change RBESSB and RBEDSB values by about 0.1% and 0.5%, respectively. Besides, maximum variations of 4.3% and 2% were calculated for RBEDSB and RBESSB when cell oxygen level changed from 10 to 100%. From the results, variations of considered gadolinium and oxygen concentrations during GdNCT can influence RBE values. Nevertheless, due to the not remarkable changes in the intensity of Auger electrons, a slight difference in RBE values would be expected at various 157Gd concentrations, although considerable RBE changes were calculated relevant to the oxygen alternations inside tumor tissue.

An inter-comparison between radiobiological characteristics of a commercial low-energy IORT system by Geant4-DNA and MCDS Monte Carlo codes

INTRODUCTION

The need for accurate relative biological effectiveness (RBE) estimation for low energy therapeutic X-rays (corresponding to 50 kV nominal energy of a commercial low-energy IORT system (INTRABEAM)) is a crucial issue due to increased radiobiological effects, respect to high energy photons. Modeling of radiation-induced DNA damage through Monte Carlo (MC) simulation approaches can give useful information. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate and compare RBE of low energy therapeutic X-rays using Geant4-DNA toolkit and Monte Carlo damage simulation (MCDS) code.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RBE calculations were performed considering the emitted secondary electron spectra through interactions of low energy X-rays inside the medium. In Geant4-DNA, the DNA strand breaks were obtained by employing a B-DNA model in physical stage with 10.79 eV energy-threshold and the probability of hydroxyl radical's chemical reactions of about 0.13%. Furthermore, RBE estimations by MCDS code were performed under fully aerobic conditions.

RESULTS

Acquired results by two considered MC codes showed that the same trend is found for RBEDSB and RBESSB variations. Totally, a reasonable agreement between the calculated RBE values (both RBESSB and RBEDSB) existed between the two considered MC codes. The mean differences of 9.2% and 1.8% were obtained between the estimated RBESSB and RBEDSB values by two codes, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that a tolerable accordance is found between the calculated RBEDSB values through MCDS and Geant4-DNA, a fact which appropriates both codes for RBE evaluations of low energy therapeutic X-rays, especially in the case of RBEDSB where lethal damages are regarded.

Monte Carlo Simulation of Double-Strand Break Induction and Conversion after Ultrasoft X-rays Irradiation

This paper estimates the yields of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by ultrasoft X-rays and uses the DSB yields and the repair outcomes to evaluate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of ultrasoft X-rays. We simulated the yields of DSB induction and predicted them in the presence and absence of oxygen, using a Monte Carlo damage simulation (MCDS) software, to calculate the RBE. Monte Carlo excision repair (MCER) simulations were also performed to calculate the repair outcomes (correct repairs, mutations, and DSB conversions). Compared to ⁶⁰Co γ-rays, the RBE values for ultrasoft X-rays (titanium K-shell, aluminum K-shell, copper L-shell, and carbon K-shell) for DSB induction were respectively 1.3, 1.9, 2.3, and 2.6 under aerobic conditions and 1.3, 2.1, 2.5, and 2.9 under a hypoxic condition (2% O₂). The RBE values for enzymatic DSBs were 1.6, 2.1, 2.3, and 2.4, respectively, indicating that the enzymatic DSB yields are comparable to the yields of DSB induction. The synergistic effects of DSB induction and enzymatic DSB formation further facilitate cell killing and the advantage in cancer treatment.

A Third Generation Potentially Bifunctional Trithiol Chelate, Its nat,1XXSb(III) Complex, and Selective Chelation of Radioantimony (119Sb) from Its Sn Target

The therapeutic potential of the Meitner-Auger- and conversion-electron emitting radionuclide ¹¹⁹Sb remains unexplored because of the difficulty of incorporating it into biologically targeted compounds. To address this challenge, we report the development of ¹¹⁹Sb production from electroplated tin cyclotron targets and its complexation by a novel trithiol chelate. The chelation reaction occurs in harsh solvent conditions even in the presence of large quantities of tin, which are necessary for production on small, low energy (16 MeV) cyclotrons. The ¹¹⁹Sb-trithiol complex has high stability and can be purified by HPLC. The third generation trithiol chelate and the analogous stable ^natSb-trithiol compound were synthesized and characterized, including by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses.

Absolute cross sections for chemoradiation therapy: Damages to cisplatin-DNA complexes induced by 10 eV electrons

In chemoradiation therapy, the synergy between the radiation and the chemotherapeutic agent (CA) can result in a super-additive treatment. A priori, this increased effectiveness could be estimated from model calculations, if absolute cross sections (ACSs) involved in cellular damage are substantially higher, when the CA binds to DNA. We measure ACSs for damages induced by 10 eV electrons, when DNA binds to the CA cisplatin as in chemotherapy. At this energy, DNA is damaged essentially by the decay of core-excited transient anions into bond-breaking channels. Films of cisplatin-DNA complexes of ratio 5:1 with thicknesses 10, 15, and 20 nm were irradiated in vacuum during 5-30 s. Conformation changes were quantified by electrophoresis and yields extrapolated from exposure-response curves. Base damages (BDs) were revealed and quantified by enzymatic treatment. The ACSs were generated from these yields by two mathematical models. For 3197 base-pair plasmid DNA, ACS for single strand breaks, double strand breaks (DSBs), crosslinks, non-DSB cluster damages, and total BDs is 71 ± 2, 9.3 ± 0.4, 10.1 ± 0.3, 8.2 ± 0.3, and 115 ± 2 ×10^-15 cm², respectively. These ACSs are higher than those of nonmodified DNA by factors of 1.6 ± 0.1, 2.2 ± 0.1, 1.3 ± 0.1, 1.3 ± 0.3, and 2.1 ± 0.4, respectively. Since LEEs are produced in large quantities by radiolysis and strongly interact with biomolecules, we expect such enhancements to produce substantial additional damages in the DNA of the nucleus of cancer cells during concomitant chemoradiation therapy. The increase damage appears sufficiently large to justify more elaborate simulations, which could provide a quantitative evaluation of molecular sensitization by Pt-CAs.

DNA double strand break (DSB) induction and cell survival in iodine-enhanced computed tomography (CT)

A multi-scale Monte Carlo model is proposed to assess the dosimetric and biological impact of iodine-based contrast agents commonly used in computed tomography. As presented, the model integrates the general purpose MCNP6 code system for larger-scale radiation transport and dose assessment with the Monte Carlo damage simulation to determine the sub-cellular characteristics and spatial distribution of initial DNA damage. The repair-misrepair-fixation model is then used to relate DNA double strand break (DSB) induction to reproductive cell death. Comparisons of measured and modeled changes in reproductive cell survival for ultrasoft characteristic k-shell x-rays (0.25-4.55 keV) up to orthovoltage (200-500 kVp) x-rays indicate that the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for DSB induction is within a few percent of the RBE for cell survival. Because of the very short range of secondary electrons produced by low energy x-ray interactions with contrast agents, the concentration and subcellular distribution of iodine within and near cellular targets have a significant impact on the estimated absorbed dose and number of DSB produced in the cell nucleus. For some plausible models of the cell-level distribution of contrast agent, the model predicts an increase in RBE-weighted dose (RWD) for the endpoint of DSB induction of 1.22-1.40 for a 5-10 mg ml^-1 iodine concentration in blood compared to an RWD increase of 1.07  ±  0.19 from a recent clinical trial. The modeled RWD of 2.58  ±  0.03 is also in good agreement with the measured RWD of 2.3  ±  0.5 for an iodine concentration of 50 mg ml^-1 relative to no iodine. The good agreement between modeled and measured DSB and cell survival estimates provides some confidence that the presented model can be used to accurately assess biological dose for other concentrations of the same or different contrast agents.

Rapid MCNP simulation of DNA double strand break (DSB) relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for photons, neutrons, and light ions

To account for particle interactions in the extracellular (physical) environment, information from the cell-level Monte Carlo damage simulation (MCDS) for DNA double strand break (DSB) induction has been integrated into the general purpose Monte Carlo N-particle (MCNP) radiation transport code system. The effort to integrate these models is motivated by the need for a computationally efficient model to accurately predict particle relative biological effectiveness (RBE) in cell cultures and in vivo. To illustrate the approach and highlight the impact of the larger scale physical environment (e.g. establishing charged particle equilibrium), we examined the RBE for DSB induction (RBEDSB) of x-rays, (137)Cs γ-rays, neutrons and light ions relative to γ-rays from (60)Co in monolayer cell cultures at various depths in water. Under normoxic conditions, we found that (137)Cs γ-rays are about 1.7% more effective at creating DSB than γ-rays from (60)Co (RBEDSB  =  1.017) whereas 60-250 kV x-rays are 1.1 to 1.25 times more efficient at creating DSB than (60)Co. Under anoxic conditions, kV x-rays may have an RBEDSB up to 1.51 times as large as (60)Co γ-rays. Fission neutrons passing through monolayer cell cultures have an RBEDSB that ranges from 2.6 to 3.0 in normoxic cells, but may be as large as 9.93 for anoxic cells. For proton pencil beams, Monte Carlo simulations suggest an RBEDSB of about 1.2 at the tip of the Bragg peak and up to 1.6 a few mm beyond the Bragg peak. Bragg peak RBEDSB increases with decreasing oxygen concentration, which may create opportunities to apply proton dose painting to help address tumor hypoxia. Modeling of the particle RBE for DSB induction across multiple physical and biological scales has the potential to aid in the interpretation of laboratory experiments and provide useful information to advance the safety and effectiveness of hadron therapy in the treatment of cancer.