A new anti-cancer drug has successfully completed its pilot test in Chongqing. It is a boron drug for BNCT boron neutron capture therapy, which can be used for malignant tumors, such as melanoma, brain cancer and glioma.BNCT anticancer boron drugs are still blank in China. If successfully developed, they could be available in 2023.BNCT therapy uses boron compounds with a strong affinity for cancer cells and neutron rays to kill cancer cells.
The boron compound is injected into the patient so that it collects in the cancer cell foci, and then the affected area is irradiated with high-temperature neutron rays. When the neutron rays come into contact with the boron compounds, a strong nuclear reaction occurs, and the neutrons have a short range, killing the cancer cells without damaging the surrounding tissues. Boron is a rare non-metallic substance. Medicinal boron containing compounds have a strong affinity for cancer cells. When injected into a patient's body, they rapidly aggregate with cancer cells and form markers for them.
Neutrons are highly sensitive to boron and will react with boron in cancer cells in a violent nuclear fission reaction, releasing high-energy ? radiation to kill cancer cells. These drugs first patrol the body and hang a target on the door of all cancer cells so that later police can recognize and kill them. The administration agents used in medical examinations can emit red fluorescence and determine the degree of boron absorption by cancer cells in advance through images, which not only facilitates flexible adjustments by doctors, but also gives patients greater peace of mind.
Conventional radiation therapy can only kill oxygen-rich cells, while the remaining oxygen-deficient or quiescent cells are sensitive to conventional X-rays, ? rays and electron beams are sensitive and highly resistant, which is why cancer tends to recur after conventional treatment. Neutron rays have a special effect on hypoxic cells. The recovery rate of hypoxic cells greatly reduces the likelihood of cancer recurrence. Such hypoxic cancer cells are particularly sensitive to neutron rays. The reactivation rate of hypoxic cells at the tumor site is almost zero, and the tumor recurrence rate after surgery is very low, which is a unique advantage of neutron therapy.