Abscopal effect of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT): proof of principle in an experimental model of colon cancer

POZZI, EMILIANO C. C.; GARABALINO, MARCELA A.; FARÍAS, RUBÉN O.; CARANDO, DANIEL G.; TRIVILLIN, VERÓNICA A.; THORP, SILVIA I.; COLOMBO, LUCAS L.; GONZÁLEZ, SARA J.; MONTI HUGHES, ANDREA; SANTA CRUZ, GUSTAVO A.; CUROTTO, PAULA; SCHWINT, AMANDA E.

RADIATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL BIOPHYSICS

SPRINGER

Año: 2017 vol. 56 p. 365 - 375

0301-634X

The aim of the present study was to evaluate, for the first time, the abscopal effect of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Twenty-six BDIX rats were inoculated subcutaneously with 1 × 106 DHD/K12/TRb syngeneic colon cancer cells in the right hind flank. Three weeks post-inoculation, the right leg of 12 rats bearing the tumor nodule was treated with BPA-BNCT (BPA-Boronophenylalanine) at the RA-3 nuclear reactor located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at an absorbed dose of 7.5 Gy to skin as the dose-limiting tissue. The remaining group of 14 tumor-bearing rats were left untreated and used as control. Two weeks post-BNCT, 1 × 106 DHD/K12/TRb cells were injected subcutaneously in the contralateral left hind flank of each of the 26 BDIX rats. Tumor volume in both legs was measured weekly for 7 weeks to determine response to BNCT in the right leg and to assess a potential influence of BNCT in the right leg on tumor development in the left leg. Within the BNCT group, a statistically significant reduction was observed in contralateral left tumor volume in animals whose right leg tumor responded to BNCT (post-treatment/pre-treatment tumor volume