Multi-Functional Boron-Delivery Agents for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy of Cancers.
Sebastian O OlooKevin M SmithMaria da Graça Henriques VicentePublished in: Cancers (2023)
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a binary cancer treatment that involves the irradiation of 10 B-containing tumors with low-energy neutrons (thermal or epithermal). The alpha particles and recoiling Li nuclei that are produced in the 10 B-capture nuclear reaction are high-linear-energy transfer particles that destroy boron-loaded tumor cells; therefore, BNCT has the potential to be a localized therapeutic modality. Two boron-delivery agents have been used in clinical trials of BNCT in patients with malignant brain tumors, cutaneous melanoma, or recurrent tumors of the head and neck region, demonstrating the potential of BNCT in the treatment of difficult cancers. A variety of potentially highly effective boron-delivery agents have been synthesized in the past four decades and tested in cells and animal models. These include boron-containing nucleosides, peptides, proteins, polyamines, porphyrins, liposomes, monoclonal antibodies, and nanoparticles of various types. The most promising agents are multi-functional boronated molecules and nanoparticles functionalized with tumor cell-targeting moieties that increase their tumor selectivity and contain a radiolabel or fluorophore to allow quantification of 10 B-biodistribution and treatment planning. This review discusses multi-functional boron agents reported in the last decade, but their full potential can only be ascertained after their evaluation in BNCT clinical trials.
Keyphrases
- clinical trial
- drug delivery
- energy transfer
- quantum dots
- induced apoptosis
- risk assessment
- single cell
- cell therapy
- signaling pathway
- mesenchymal stem cells
- radiation therapy
- phase ii
- high resolution
- cell proliferation
- mass spectrometry
- cell death
- cell cycle arrest
- ionic liquid
- oxidative stress
- open label
- molecularly imprinted
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- positron emission tomography
- simultaneous determination