Boron
neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a binary therapeutic approach.
Nonradioactive boron-10 atoms accumulated in tumor cells combining
with the neutron beams produce two highly energetic particles that
could eradicate the cell that takes it and the neighboring cells.
Small molecules that carry boron atom, e.g. 5- and 6-boronated and
2,7-diboronated tryptophans, were assessed for their boron accumulation
in U87-MG, LN229, and 3T3 for BNCT. TriBoc tryptophan, TB-6-BT, shows
boron-10 at 300 ppm in both types of tumor cells with a tumor to normal
ratio (T/N) of 5.19–5.25 (4 h). TB-5-BT and DBA-5-BT show boron-10
at 300 ppm (2 h) in U87-MG cells. TB-5-BT exerts a T/N of >9.66
(1
h) in LN229 compared with the current clinical boronophenyl alanine
with a highest T/N of 2.3 (1 h) and accumulation concentration of
<50 ppm. TB-5-BT and TB-6-BT warrant further animal study.