Health & Wellbeing

New cancer radiation therapy treatment with no harmful side effects

New cancer radiation therapy treatment with no harmful side effects
Boron neutron capture therapy can kill tumors without harming healthy neighboring tissue
Boron neutron capture therapy can kill tumors without harming healthy neighboring tissue
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Boron neutron capture therapy can kill tumors without harming healthy neighboring tissue
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Boron neutron capture therapy can kill tumors without harming healthy neighboring tissue

Shortly after the discovery of the neutron in 1932, some scientists recognized the potential of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) as a cancer treatment. But despite decades of research, the problem of finding a delivery agent that would more effectively target the tumor without harming surrounding tissue persisted. Researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) may finally have found a solution.

BNCT traditionally involves injecting tumors with the non-radioactive boron-10 isotope capture agent that is then radiated with a beam of epithermal neutrons that interact with the capture agent to produce a biologically destructive nuclear caption reaction. This results in the formation of boron 11 with the release of lethal radiation in the form of alpha particles (helium-4) and lithium ions that kill the tumor. Although numerous clinical studies have demonstrated the safety of BNCT, the challenge has been finding more tumor-selective boron delivery agents.

Taking advantage of the fact that cancer cells absorb more materials than normal cells, MU Curators’ Professor M. Frederick Hawthorne and his team got cancer cells to take in and store a boron chemical designed by Hawthorne. When it captures a neutron, the boron chemical releases lithium and helium atoms that penetrate the cancer cell and destroy it from the inside without harming neighboring healthy cells.

Hawthorne and his team tested this new form of radiation therapy on mice, which resulted in successful remission of cancer.

“A wide variety of cancers can be attacked with our BNCT technique,” Hawthorne said. “The technique worked excellently in mice. We are ready to move on to trials in larger animals, then people. However, before we can start treating humans, we will need to build suitable equipment and facilities. When it is built, MU will have the first radiation therapy of this kind in the world.”

The team’s study, entitled “Boron neutron capture therapy demonstrated in mice bearing EMT 6 tumors following selective delivery of boron by rationally designed liposomes,” was recently published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).

Source: University of Missouri

8 comments
8 comments
Michiel Mitchell
What for???
There's a drug now that can kill all tumors, something to do with depriving the tumor of it cd47 protein , and letting the immune system do the dirty work.
billybob1851
i'm glad for cd47, but the neutron thing looks good also...
Joel Detrow
Because we need multiple avenues of attack, Mitch. We can't put all our eggs in one basket, because what if someone's cancer doesn't respond to one treatment or another? Suppose someone with AIDS gets cancer.
Andjelo Makovic
@Joel Detrow well,thats one unlucky bastard
Stephen N Russell
Can chemo patients use this??
Lex Iblisov
"a boron chemical designed by Hawthorne" - how exactly it was designed? what the difference with the conventional boron agent? only chemical reaction without radiation?
Richard McTaggart
kill cancer with radiation* no side effect's!!
Charles Hoss
my guess is that the boron delivering agent is something the tumor cells absorb , and the healthy ones either absorb and emit or doesn't abosrb at all . this must be some really tricky stuff . if the healthy cells doesn't absorb it , maybe it's something FDG like - gets in , and stays there after a chemical modification caused be the cells own enzimes .