Different Oral Cancer Scenarios to Personalize Targeted Therapy: Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Translational Studies

Abstract

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a targeted therapy, which consists of preferential accumulation of boron carriers in tumor followed by neutron irradiation. Each oral cancer patient has different risks of developing one or more carcinomas and/or oral mucositis induced after treatment. Our group proposed the hamster oral cancer model to study the efficacy of BNCT and associated mucositis. Translational studies are essential to the advancement of novel boron delivery agents and targeted strategies. Herein, we review our work in the hamster model in which we studied BNCT induced mucositis using three different cancerization protocols, mimicking three different clinical scenarios. The BNCT-induced mucositis increases with the aggressiveness of the carcinogenesis protocol employed, suggesting that the study of different oral cancer patient scenarios would help to develop personalized therapies.

Keywords:

• BNCT
• boron neutron capture therapy
• clinical scenarios
• hamster cheek pouch
• oral cancer
• oral mucositis
• personalized therapy
• targeted therapy

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was partially supported by the National Atomic Energy Commission, grants from ANPCyT, CONICET, Instituto Nacional del Cáncer of Argentina and University of Missouri, Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine, USA. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.