B N C TBoron Neutron Capture Therapy
What is BNCT?
BNCT is a type of radiation therapy and is a new treatment for cancer.
Mechanism of BNCT
Boron [10B] accumulates in cancer cells when the 10B compound is administered to patients, and a neutron beam is then irradiated to the cancerous area from outside the body. The irradiated neutron-beam has very low-energy and has little effect on the human body. When the neutrons collide with the boron [10B] in the cancer cells, nuclear fission occurs so as to generate radiation (alpha-rays and 7Li-nuclei). BNCT is a treatment in which the radiation destroys cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy.
Differences between BNCT and other cancer treatments
Conventional radiation therapy also damages normal cells, but BNCT destroys
cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy, so it is expected to be a treatment method
that cause less burden to the body.
Although normal radiation therapy requires multiple visits for treatment, BNCT is
a treatment that is completed with a single neutron irradiation basically.
Therefore, BNCT is considered as a treatment with less burden on the body.
Outline of BNCT and image of irradiation
Treatment flow of BNCT
History of BNCT
- 1932
- Chadwick discovered neutrons in the United Kingdom.
- 1936
- Locher advocated BNCT principle in the United States.
- 1951-1961
- Approximately 60 cases had been treated at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.
- 1968-1975
- Treatment for malignant brain tumors had been conducted in Japan.
(The results exceeded the treatment results in the United States. Since then, clinical studies on head and neck cancer and melanoma have continued, and clinical studies in Japan have exceeded 500 cases.)
- 2008
- Kyoto University and Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. succeeded in developing the world’s first accelerator for BNCT in Japan.
- 2012
- The world’s first clinical trial of BNCT started in Japan.
- 2020
- Obtained marketing and manufacturing approval for STEBORONINE® the world’s first drug for BNCT, for the indication of locally unresectable recurrent or unresectable advanced head and neck cancer.
