What is BNCT?
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) can be considered as a targeted radiation therapy (biologically and physically targeted) that selectively destroys cancer cells. Cancer cells take in specific compounds that contain an explosive – the Boron-10. When the boron-10 irradiates with thermal neutrons, it captures a neutron and explodes. The range of the explosion is so small that only the cancer cell itself gets damaged, sparing the normal cells nearby.
The patient is injected with a compound containing boron-10, such as boric acid (BA).
These compounds are selectively taken up by cancer cells due to their high metabolic rate or other biological specificities (such as antibody-antigen reaction).
The tumor region is exposed to a beam of thermal neutrons, which causes the boron-10 atoms to capture the neutrons and release high-energy particles - alpha particles and lithium ions.
The high-energy particles released by the neutron capture reaction caused damages inside the cancer cells, while sparing healthy tissue.
After treatment, cancer cells disappeared, and normal cells remained .