Exploring water radiolysis in proton cancer therapy: Time-dependent, non-adiabatic simulations of H+ + (H2O)1-6

PLoS One. 2017 Apr 4;12(4):e0174456. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174456. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

To elucidate microscopic details of proton cancer therapy (PCT), we apply the simplest-level electron nuclear dynamics (SLEND) method to H+ + (H2O)1-6 at ELab = 100 keV. These systems are computationally tractable prototypes to simulate water radiolysis reactions-i.e. the PCT processes that generate the DNA-damaging species against cancerous cells. To capture incipient bulk-water effects, ten (H2O)1-6 isomers are considered, ranging from quasi-planar/multiplanar (H2O)1-6 to "smallest-drop" prism and cage (H2O)6 structures. SLEND is a time-dependent, variational, non-adiabatic and direct method that adopts a nuclear classical-mechanics description and an electronic single-determinantal wavefunction in the Thouless representation. Short-time SLEND/6-31G* (n = 1-6) and /6-31G** (n = 1-5) simulations render cluster-to-projectile 1-electron-transfer (1-ET) total integral cross sections (ICSs) and 1-ET probabilities. In absolute quantitative terms, SLEND/6-31G* 1-ET ICS compares satisfactorily with alternative experimental and theoretical results only available for n = 1 and exhibits almost the same accuracy of the best alternative theoretical result. SLEND/6-31G** overestimates 1-ET ICS for n = 1, but a comparable overestimation is also observed with another theoretical method. An investigation on H+ + H indicates that electron direct ionization (DI) becomes significant with the large virtual-space quasi-continuum in large basis sets; thus, SLEND/6-31G** 1-ET ICS is overestimated by DI contributions. The solution to this problem is discussed. In relative quantitative terms, both SLEND/6-31* and /6-31G** 1-ET ICSs precisely fit into physically justified scaling formulae as a function of the cluster size; this indicates SLEND's suitability for predicting properties of water clusters with varying size. Long-time SLEND/6-31G* (n = 1-4) simulations predict the formation of the DNA-damaging radicals H, OH, O and H3O. While "smallest-drop" isomers are included, no early manifestations of bulk water PCT properties are observed and simulations with larger water clusters will be needed to capture those effects. This study is the largest SLEND investigation on water radiolysis to date.

MeSH terms

  • Computer Simulation
  • DNA Damage
  • DNA Fragmentation
  • DNA, Neoplasm / radiation effects
  • Electron Transport
  • Humans
  • Models, Biological
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
  • Proton Therapy / methods*
  • Thermodynamics
  • Water / chemistry*

Substances

  • DNA, Neoplasm
  • Water

Grants and funding

This work was supported by 1) Science without Borders Fellowship Program of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of Brazil, to EST, http://www.cienciasemfronteiras.gov.br/web/csf-eng/faq: 2) Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to JAM, grant: RP140478 http://www.cprit.state.tx.us/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.