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Review
. 2021 Feb 26:11:601820.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.601820. eCollection 2021.

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy: A Review of Clinical Applications

Timothy D Malouff  1 , Danushka S Seneviratne  1 , Daniel K Ebner  2 , William C Stross  1 , Mark R Waddle  1 , Daniel M Trifiletti  1 , Sunil Krishnan  1
Affiliations
Review

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy: A Review of Clinical Applications

Timothy D Malouff et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is an emerging treatment modality aimed at improving the therapeutic ratio for traditionally difficult to treat tumors. BNCT utilizes boronated agents to preferentially deliver boron-10 to tumors, which, after undergoing irradiation with neutrons, yields litihium-7 and an alpha particle. The alpha particle has a short range, therefore preferentially affecting tumor tissues while sparing more distal normal tissues. To date, BNCT has been studied clinically in a variety of disease sites, including glioblastoma multiforme, meningioma, head and neck cancers, lung cancers, breast cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma, sarcomas, cutaneous malignancies, extramammary Paget's disease, recurrent cancers, pediatric cancers, and metastatic disease. We aim to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the studies of each of these disease sites, as well as a review on the challenges facing adoption of BNCT.

Keywords: boron neutron capture; boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT); fast neutrons; particles; radiation.

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Conflict of interest statement

DT has received clinical trial funding from Novocure and publishing fees from Springer. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Injected boron compounds are preferentially found in tumor cells, which are then irradiated with thermal neutrons. The boron then undergoes a reaction, giving an alpha particle and an inert lithium ion. The alpha particle then damages the tumor cell with a finite range.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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