DNA damage enhancement by radiotherapy-activated hafnium oxide nanoparticles improves cGAS-STING pathway activation in human colorectal cancer cells

The cGAS-STING pathway can be activated by radiation induced DNA damage and because of its important role in anti-cancer immunity activation, methods to increase its activation in cancer cells could provide significant therapeutic benefits for patients. We explored the impact of hafnium oxide nanoparticles (NBTXR3) activated by radiotherapy on cell death, DNA damage, and activation of the cGAS-STING pathway. We demonstrate that NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy enhances cell destruction, DNA double strand breaks, micronuclei formation and cGAS-STING pathway activation in a human colorectal cancer model, compared to radiotherapy alone.