Drug Shows Promise in Advancing Potential of BNCT

TAE Life Sciences announced findings from its recent research, heralding a new chapter in the company’s pursuit of making Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) a viable and globally accepted cancer treatment. The study focused on the development and boron delivery capabilities of Boronotyrosine (BTS), a novel borylated amino acid analogue that will redefine the cancer-fighting potential of BNCT.

Published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, this study highlights BTS's potential to improve BNCT, a cutting-edge cancer therapy modality that combines boronated drugs and a particle accelerator-based neutron source to precisely target and kill cancer cells with minimal damage to healthy tissue. This study demonstrates BTS’s unparalleled efficiency in delivering boron—a critical element in BNCT—to LAT1-expressing cancer cells, outperforming the only approved drug for BNCT, Boronophenylalanine (BPA), in both in vivo and in vitro models.

The findings reveal that BTS exhibits superior characteristics in terms of cellular uptake, demonstrating a 2-fold to 4-fold greater uptake in vitro compared to BPA. Furthermore, boron retention is significantly higher within cancer cells which retain nearly 60% of the ingested boron after 18 hours, whereas less than 20% is retained after 18 hours with BPA.  Notably these results also translated to higher boron delivery over longer periods of time in in vivo experiments.  Lastly, the tumor-to-blood ratio with BTS was found to be markedly improved, as high as 28 to 1 compared to only 6 to 1 for BPA, showcasing significantly improved performance in targeting tumors while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue. All these key attributes may be instrumental in enhancing the efficacy of BNCT while minimizing damage to healthy tissues.

“TAE Life Sciences commitment to scientific rigor and innovation is evident in this study,” said Dr Kendall Morrison, Chief Scientific Officer at the company. “The publication of our findings in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry underscores the meticulous research and robust scientific foundation behind BTS's development and testing.”

The promising results pave the way for further research and clinical applications, reaffirming the company's dedication to transforming cancer care.