Effect of boron compounds on the biological effectiveness of proton therapy

Abstract

Treatment with ¹¹ B, at concentrations of 80.4 ppm from BSH or 86.9 ppm from BPA, had no effect on the biological effectiveness of proton beams in DU145 prostate cancer cells. Our results agree with published theoretical calculations indicating that the contribution of alpha particles from such reactions to the total absorbed dose and biological effectiveness is negligible. We also found that BSH radiosensitized DU145 cells to X-rays, low-LET protons, and high-LET protons but that the radiosensitization was not related to DNA damage.