Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT)
My initial project with Dr. Vicente dealt with synthesizing a carborane porphyrin to be a viable candidate for BNCT, which is an alternative therapy for brain cancer. This drug is specifically designed to cross the blood-brain barrier. Below is an overview of the BNCT technique.
- Drug containing Boron-10 preferentially accumulates within tumor cells
- Boron-10 captures low energy neutrons and produces alpha particles and Lithium ions, according to the equation below
- These high linear energy transfer (high-LET) particles destroy tumor cells through ionization processes
- Because of the short path of high-LET particles in tissue, the destructive effects is highly localized to boron-10 containing cells, while neighboring healthy cells are not damaged.
- Amount of boron-10 needed is ~ 10-30 μg of boron/g of tumor.