Cancer radiation therapy with charged particle beams, called particle therapy, is a new therapeutic treatment presenting major advantages when compared to conventional radiotherapy. Because ions have specific ballistic properties and a higher biological effectiveness, they are superior to x-rays. Numerous medical centres are starting in the world using mostly protons but also carbon ions as medical beams. Several investigations are attempting to reduce the cost/benefit ratio and enlarge the range of therapeutic indications. A major limitation of particle therapy is the presence of low but significant damage induced in healthy tissues located at the entrance of the ion track prior to reaching the tumour. It is thus a major challenge to improve the targeting of the tumours, concentrating radiation effects in the malignance. A novel strategy, based on the addition of nanoparticles targeting the tumour, was suggested over a decade ago to improve the performance of conventional photon therapy. Recently, similar developments have emerged for particle therapy and the amount of research is now exploding. In this paper, we review the experimental results, as well as theoretical and simulation studies that shed light in the promising outcomes of this strategy and in the underpinning mechanisms. Several experiments provide consistent evidence of significant enhancement of ion radiation effects in the presence of nanoparticles. In view of implementing this strategy for cancer treatment, simulation studies have begun to establish the rationale and the specificity of this effect. In addition, these studies will help to outline a list of possible mechanisms and to predict the impact of ion beams and nanoparticle characteristics. Many questions remain unsolved, but the findings of these first studies are encouraging and open new challenges. After summarizing the main results in the field, we propose a roadmap to pursue future research with the aim to strengthen the potential interplay between particle therapy and nanomedicine.

中文翻译：

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粒子疗法和纳米医学：最新技术和研究观点。

带电粒子束的癌症放射疗法，称为粒子疗法，是一种新的疗法，与常规放射疗法相比，具有重大优势。由于离子具有特定的弹道特性和较高的生物有效性，因此它们优于X射线。世界上许多医疗中心都开始使用质子，但也使用碳离子作为医疗束。一些研究试图降低成本/收益比并扩大治疗适应症的范围。粒子疗法的主要局限性在于，在到达肿瘤之前，位于离子轨道入口处的健康组织中存在低而显着的损伤。因此，改善肿瘤的靶向性，在恶性肿瘤中集中放射作用是主要的挑战。新颖的策略 基于添加靶向肿瘤的纳米颗粒，已在十年前提出以改善常规光子疗法的性能。最近，粒子疗法也出现了类似的发展，并且研究的数量正在爆炸。在本文中，我们回顾了实验结果以及理论和模拟研究，这些研究为该策略的有前景成果和基础机制提供了启示。几个实验提供了在纳米粒子存在下离子辐射效应显着增强的一致证据。考虑到实施这种癌症治疗策略，模拟研究已开始确定这种作用的原理和特异性。此外，这些研究将有助于概述一系列可能的机制，并预测离子束和纳米粒子特性的影响。许多问题尚未解决，但是这些初步研究的结果令人鼓舞，并提出了新的挑战。在总结了该领域的主要成果之后，我们提出了一个路线图，以进行进一步的研究，以期加强颗粒疗法与纳米药物之间的潜在相互作用。