Boronated Compounds for Imaging Guided BNCT Applications

Abstract

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is based on the capture of thermal neutrons by boron 10 ((10)B) nuclei that have been selectively delivered to tumor cells. The amount of 10-30 μg of boron for g of tumor mass is needed to attain an acceptable therapeutic advantage. Despite that the potentialities of BNCT have been demonstrated in several preclinical studies, this technique has not yet been fully accepted in the armory of tools for tumor treatment. This is partly due to the differences in the uptake and distribution of (10)B among patients and also to the uncertainty found in the determination of tumor-to-blood (10)B concentration ratio. Attention is now being payed to use the main imaging techniques to determine the in vivo biodistribution of BNCT agents. Most of the work has been devoted to the most promising BNCT agents, namely BPA, BSH and carborane derivatives. This review surveys studies carried out over the last decade, and outlines the role that NMR, PET and SPECT imaging may have to improve the efficacy of BNCT.

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“…whereas MRI provides high spatial resolution; both techniques are considered sufficiently sensitive for clinical BNCT applications [50]. For example, hepatocytes could be visualized by MRI when cells integrated at least 4 x 10 7 Gd complexes per cell [51].…”

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“…It is notable that MR imaging has been applied to other boron containing agents such as BSH [ 1 , 45 ]. Both 10 B and 11 B are detectable by MR technique.…”

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“…Conceptually similar to photoresponsivity is boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) [167][168][169], in fact responsivity to neutron flux. When an isotopically enriched ( 10 B) boron-containing polymer is accumulated in tumor and then irradiated with epithermal neutron flux, nuclear fission reaction starts to take place leading to the production of secondary radiation biologically much more effective than the neutron flux.…”