Boron Neutron Capture Therapy of Intracerebral Rat Gliosarcomas

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 87; no. 24; pp. 9808 - 9812
• Main Authors: Joel, D. D., Fairchild, R. G., Laissue, J. A., Saraf, S. K., Kalef-Ezra, J. A., Slatkin, D. N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 01.12.1990; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: 550603 - Medicine- External Radiation in Therapy- (1980-); ANIMALS; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; BODY; Boranes; Boranes - therapeutic use; Borohydrides; Boron; Boron - analysis; Boron - blood; Boron - therapeutic use; BRAIN; Brain neoplasms; Brain Neoplasms - radiotherapy; Brain Neoplasms - therapy; Cell physiology; Cell transformation and carcinogenesis. Action of oncogenes and antioncogenes; CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM; Dimers; DISEASES; DOSES; Dosimetry; EXPERIMENTAL NEOPLASMS; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glioma - radiotherapy; Glioma - therapy; Gliosarcoma; Irradiation; Isotopes; MAMMALS; MEDICINE; Molecular and cellular biology; NEOPLASMS; NERVOUS SYSTEM; NEUTRON CAPTURE THERAPY; NEUTRON THERAPY; Neutrons; NUCLEAR MEDICINE; ORGANS; RADIATION DOSES; RADIOLOGY; RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE; RADIOTHERAPY; RATS; Rats, Inbred F344; RODENTS; SARCOMAS; Sulfhydryl Compounds; Sulfides - therapeutic use; SURVIVAL TIME; THERAPY; Tumors; VERTEBRATES; Brain; Rat; Biological evolution; Rodentia; Transplantation; Radiotherapy; Ion exchange chromatography; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Glioma; Efficiency; Dosimetry; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.87.24.9808

The efficacy of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for the treatment of intracerebrally implanted rat gliosarcomas was tested. Preferential accumulation of10B in tumors was achieved by continuous infusion of the sulfhydryl borane dimer, Na4 10B24H22S2, at a rate of 45-50 μg of10B per g of body weight per day from day 11 to day 14 after tumor initiation (day 0). This infusion schedule resulted in average blood10B concentrations of 35 μg/ml in a group of 12 gliosarcoma-bearing rats and 45 μg/ml in a group of 10 similar gliosarcoma-bearing rats treated by BNCT. Estimated tumor10B levels in these two groups were 26 and 34 μg/g, respectively. On day 14, boron-treated and non-boron-treated rats were exposed to 5.0 or 7.5 MW·min of radiation from the Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor that yielded thermal neutron fluences of ≈ 2.0 x 1012or ≈ 3.0 x 1012n/cm2, respectively, in the tumors. Untreated rats had a median postinitiation survival time of 21 days. Reactor radiation alone increased median postinitiation survival time to 26 (5.0 MW·min) or 28 (7.5 MW·min) days. The 12 rats that received 5 MW·min of BNCT had a median postinitiation survival time of 60 days. Two of these animals survived > 15 months. In the 7.5 MW·min group, the median survival time is not calculable since 6 of the 10 animals remain alive > 10 months after BNCT. The estimated radiation doses to tumors in the two BNCT groups were 14.2 and 25.6 Gy equivalents, respectively. Similar gliosarcoma-bearing rats treated with 15.0 or 22.5 Gy of 250-kilovolt peak x-rays had median survival times of only 26 or 31 days, respectively, after tumor initiation.