放射治疗是癌症治疗中不可避免的选择，通常和手术和化疗一起应用。然而，高剂量的放射治疗会同时杀死正常细胞和肿瘤细胞，另外有些肿瘤细胞对放疗有抵抗力。最近，许多研究人员关注高Z纳米材料作为放射敏化剂进行放疗。其中金纳米粒子（GNPs）由于其有 promising 的物理、化学和生物性质而表现出显著的潜力。虽然有少数针对药物传递和激光光敏化的临床试验研究已经进行，但GNPs尚未获得美国食品和药物管理局的批准，用于放疗。GNPs的敏化效果取决于它们在细胞中的浓度和放疗期间的X射线能量沉积。值得注意的是，与GNPs的性质相关的一些限制，包括其大小、形状、表面电荷和配基，以及辐射源能量应该得到解决。在此，本文首先关注使用GNPs作为放射敏化剂的一些挑战，以及在体外/体内、蒙特卡罗和临床研究中的一些偏差。其次，我们讨论了将GNPs作为放疗的放射敏化剂在临床转化中的挑战，并提出了可行的解决方案。最后，我们建议在未来的研究中考虑某些领域。本文归类于：治疗方法和药物发现 > NA。© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Radiotherapy is an inevitable choice for cancer treatment that is applied as combinatorial therapy along with surgery and chemotherapy. Nevertheless, radiotherapy at high doses kills normal and tumor cells at the same time. In addition, some tumor cells are resistant to radiotherapy. Recently, many researchers have focused on high-Z nanomaterials as radiosensitizers for radiotherapy. Among them, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have shown remarkable potential due to their promising physical, chemical, and biological properties. Although few clinical trial studies have been performed on drug delivery and photosensitization with lasers, GNPs have not yet received Food and Drug Administration approval for use in radiotherapy. The sensitization effects of GNPs are dependent on their concentration in cells and x-ray energy deposition during radiotherapy. Notably, some limitations related to the properties of the GNPs, including their size, shape, surface charge, and ligands, and the radiation source energy should be resolved. At the first, this review focuses on some of the challenges of using GNPs as radiosensitizers and some biases among in vitro/in vivo, Monte Carlo, and clinical studies. Then, we discuss the challenges in the clinical translation of GNPs as radiosensitizers for radiotherapy and proposes feasible solutions. And finally, we suggest that certain areas be considered in future research. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > NA.© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.