New Cancer Treatment Discovered with No Harmful Side-Effects

A team of researchers at the University of Missouri have recently developed a new form of radiation therapy that successfully put cancer into remission in mice. And to top it off, the innovative treatment produced none of the harmful side-effects of conventional chemo and radiation cancer therapies.

"Since the 1930s, scientists have sought success with a cancer treatment known as boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT)," said Hawthorne, a recent winner of the National Medal of Science awarded by President Obama in the White House. "Our team at MU's International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine finally found the way to make BNCT work by taking advantage of a cancer cell's biology with nanochemistry."

According to the website Cancer, the disease starts when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. As normal cells die over time, cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also invade and grow into other tissues, which is something that normal cells can't do.

Cancer starts when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. Cancer cell growth is different from normal cell growth. Instead of dying, cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also invade (grow into) other tissues, something that normal cells cannot do. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell.

The researcher's team used a boron chemical to make the new type of radiation. When those boron-infused cancer cells were exposed to neutrons, a subatomic particle, the boron atom shattered and selectively tore apart the cancer cells, sparing neighboring healthy cells.

The physical properties of boron made Hawthorne's technique possible. A particular form of boron will split when it captures a neutron and release lithium, helium and energy. Like pool balls careening around a billiards table, the helium and lithium atoms penetrate the cancer cell and destroy it from the inside without harming the surrounding tissues, according to the University of Missouri News Bureau.

 "A wide variety of cancers can be attacked with our BNCT technique," Hawthorne said. "The technique worked excellently in mice. We are ready to move on to trials in larger animals, then people. However, before we can start treating humans, we will need to build suitable equipment and facilities. When it is built, MU will have the first radiation therapy of this kind in the world."

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) recently published the study, entitled "Boron neutron capture therapy demonstrated in mice bearing EMT 6 tumors following selective delivery of boron by rationally designed liposomes."

Clinical trials in humans could begin soon as funding is secured, according to researchers.