FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif.– TAE Life Sciences (TLS), a biological-targeted radiation therapy company developing next-generation boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), today announced the publication of a study in the September 22 issue of the Journal of Medical Physics that assessed whether alpha particles generated through the combination of boron target drugs and proton radiation would generate a reaction that would be sufficient to enhance the biological effectiveness of proton therapy in the treatment of prostate cancer.
Proton Boron Capture Therapy (PBCT) is a novel approach of particle therapy aimed at enhancing proton biological effectiveness by exploiting the fusion reaction between low-energy protons and a boron drug to destroy cancer cells via radiation delivery. The combination aims to produce damaging alpha particles exclusively across the tumor without harming healthy tissue in the beam entrance. TAE Life Sciences and the Department of Radiation Physics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center conducted a study, “Effect of boron compounds on the biological effectiveness of proton therapy”, to identify whether PBCT will produce an increased biological effect in destroying the tumor.
Results indicate that boron-11 concentrations of 80.4 ppm from sodium borocaptate (BSH) or 86.9 ppm from 4-borono-L-phenylalanine (BPA) treatments did not affect the biological effectiveness of proton beams due to proton–boron reactions in the DU145 prostate cancer cell line. These results align with theoretical results indicating that the contribution to the total absorbed dose and biological effectiveness due to alpha particles from proton–boron reaction is negligible. The findings also indicate that BSH radiosensitized DU145 cells to X-rays, low-linear energy transfer (LET) protons, and higher LET protons, but this radiosensitization was not related to DNA damage.
“TAE Life Sciences is proud of this proton boron fusion study,” said Bruce Bauer, PhD, CEO of TAE Life Sciences. “We are encouraged by the continued development of BNCT and its unique ability to one day provide patients with new treatment options for recurrent and difficult to treat cancers.”
“The study tested whether different boron compounds enhance the effectiveness of proton beams in killing cancer cells via proton-boron nuclear reactions. The results suggest that the tested boron compounds do not enhance cancer cell kill when combined with proton therapy, which leaves BNCT as probably the only advanced radiation therapy modality capable of combining the targeting properties of boron compound drugs to enhance radiation-induced cancer cell killing while minimizing side effects in health tissue.” said Gabriel Sawakuchi, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Physics, MD Anderson.
