{"title":"Importance of radiobiological studies for the advancement of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT)","authors":"A. Monti Hughes","doi":"10.1017/erm.2022.7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a tumour selective particle radiotherapy, based on the administration of boron carriers incorporated preferentially by tumour cells, followed by irradiation with a thermal or epithermal neutron beam. BNCT clinical results to date show therapeutic efficacy, associated with an improvement in patient quality of life and prolonged survival. Translational research in adequate experimental models is necessary to optimise BNCT for different pathologies. This review recapitulates some examples of BNCT radiobiological studies for different pathologies and clinical scenarios, strategies to optimise boron targeting, enhance BNCT therapeutic effect and minimise radiotoxicity. It also describes the radiobiological mechanisms induced by BNCT, and the importance of the detection of biomarkers to monitor and predict the therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of BNCT alone or combined with other strategies. Besides, there is a brief comment on the introduction of accelerator-based neutron sources in BNCT. These sources would expand the clinical BNCT services to more patients, and would help to make BNCT a standard treatment modality for various types of cancer. Radiobiological BNCT studies have been of utmost importance to make progress in BNCT, being essential to design novel, safe and effective clinical BNCT protocols.","PeriodicalId":50462,"journal":{"name":"Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"12","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/erm.2022.7","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 12
Abstract
Abstract Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a tumour selective particle radiotherapy, based on the administration of boron carriers incorporated preferentially by tumour cells, followed by irradiation with a thermal or epithermal neutron beam. BNCT clinical results to date show therapeutic efficacy, associated with an improvement in patient quality of life and prolonged survival. Translational research in adequate experimental models is necessary to optimise BNCT for different pathologies. This review recapitulates some examples of BNCT radiobiological studies for different pathologies and clinical scenarios, strategies to optimise boron targeting, enhance BNCT therapeutic effect and minimise radiotoxicity. It also describes the radiobiological mechanisms induced by BNCT, and the importance of the detection of biomarkers to monitor and predict the therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of BNCT alone or combined with other strategies. Besides, there is a brief comment on the introduction of accelerator-based neutron sources in BNCT. These sources would expand the clinical BNCT services to more patients, and would help to make BNCT a standard treatment modality for various types of cancer. Radiobiological BNCT studies have been of utmost importance to make progress in BNCT, being essential to design novel, safe and effective clinical BNCT protocols.
期刊介绍:
Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine is an innovative online journal featuring authoritative and timely Reviews covering gene therapy, immunotherapeutics, drug design, vaccines, genetic testing, pathogenesis, microbiology, genomics, molecular epidemiology and diagnostic techniques. We especially welcome reviews on translational aspects of molecular medicine, particularly those related to the application of new understanding of the molecular basis of disease to experimental medicine and clinical practice.