Current State and Prospectives for Proton Boron Capture Therapy

Abstract

The development of new methods increasing the biological effectiveness of proton therapy (PT) is of high interest in radiation oncology. The use of binary technologies, in which the damaging effect of proton radiation is further enhanced by the selective accumulation of the radiosensitizer in the target tissue, can significantly increase the effectiveness of radiation therapy. To increase the absorbed dose in a tumor target, proton boron capture therapy (PBCT) was proposed based on the reaction of proton capture on the ¹¹B isotope with the formation of three α-particles. This review summarizes data on theoretical and experimental studies on the effectiveness and prospects of proton boron capture therapy.

Keywords: proton boron capture therapy; proton therapy; radiotherapy; sensitization.

Figure 1

A sketch for PBCT. The dose in the tumor is enhanced by both proton beam targeting at the Bragg peak area (marked by red square) and cell targeting (increased uptake is denoted in green).