o-carborane encapsulated into polymeric micelles for proton boron capture therapy.
- 1Departments of Cancer Systems Imaging - Unit 1907, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1881 East Road, Houston, TX 77054, USA.
- 2Department of Nuclear Sciences and Engineering, Center of Nuclear Sciences and Technologies, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, Km 139.7, Bobadela LRS 2695-066, Portugal.
- 3Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77054, USA.
Abstract
Proton boron capture therapy (PBCT), based on proton-boron fusion reactions (¹¹B + p →3α + 8.7 MeV), has the potential to enhance the biological effectiveness of proton therapy. To achieve this potential, the efficient delivery of enough ¹¹B to cancer cells will be paramount. This study demonstrates a newly developed method of poor solvent-mediated spontaneous assembly of polymeric micelles with entrapped o-carborane, in which ethanol is a good solvent for the payload o-carborane but a poor solvent for the hydrophobic segment poly(ε-caprolactone) in this amphiphilic block copolymer. This method provided smaller polymeric micelles compared to use of tetrahydrofuran, a good solvent for the amphiphilic block copolymer, as the sole solvent for both payload and copolymer. The prepared nanoscale formulation enabled the boron-rich cage compound o-carborane to be effectively delivered to tumor cells, and its enhancement of the biological effectiveness of proton therapy was preliminarily validated in a pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell line, MiaPaCa-2, by survival assays and DNA damage assessment. The ¹¹¹In-labeled congener was also successfully prepared and used in biodistribution assays in normal mice, opening the way to further studies on image-guided PBCT in preclinical animal models.
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026ocarborane,
title = {{o-carborane encapsulated into polymeric micelles for proton boron capture therapy.}},
author = {Guodong Zhang and Qiu-Xu Teng and Célia Fernandes and Haiyan Chen and Filipa Mendes and Narayan Sahoo and Ping Pan and Lurdes Gano and António Paulo and Chun Li},
journal = {Cancer nanotechnology},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1186/s12645-026-00400-2},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898988},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - o-carborane encapsulated into polymeric micelles for proton boron capture therapy.
AU - Guodong Zhang
AU - Qiu-Xu Teng
AU - Célia Fernandes
AU - Haiyan Chen
AU - Filipa Mendes
AU - Narayan Sahoo
AU - Ping Pan
AU - Lurdes Gano
AU - António Paulo
AU - Chun Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/28
JO - Cancer nanotechnology
DO - 10.1186/s12645-026-00400-2
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898988
AB - Proton boron capture therapy (PBCT), based on proton-boron fusion reactions (¹¹B + p →3α + 8.7 MeV), has the potential to enhance the biological effectiveness of proton therapy. To achieve this potential, the efficient delivery of enough ¹¹B to cancer cells will be paramount. This study demonstrates a newly developed method of poor solvent-mediated spontaneous assembly of polymeric micelles with entrapped o-carborane, in which ethanol is a good solvent for the payload o-carborane but a poor solvent for the hydrophobic segment poly(ε-caprolactone) in this amphiphilic block copolymer. This method provided smaller polymeric micelles compared to use of tetrahydrofuran, a good solvent for the amphiphilic block copolymer, as the sole solvent for both payload and copolymer. The prepared nanoscale formulation enabled the boron-rich cage compound o-carborane to be effectively delivered to tumor cells, and its enhancement of the biological effectiveness of proton therapy was preliminarily validated in a pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell line, MiaPaCa-2, by survival assays and DNA damage assessment. The ¹¹¹In-labeled congener was also successfully prepared and used in biodistribution assays in normal mice, opening the way to further studies on image-guided PBCT in preclinical animal models.
SN - 1868-6958
SN - 1868-6966
ER -