Boron Agent Delivery Platforms Based on Natural Products for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is one of the most promising modalities for cancer treatment due to its minimal invasiveness. Although two types of boron agents are clinically used, several issues persist in their delivery, including poor water solubility, instability in aqueous media, selectivity toward cancer cells, accumulation in cancer cells, retention time in tumor tissue, and efficiency in achieving the boron neutron capture reaction. Addressing these challenges, numerous groups have explored various boron agents to enhance the therapeutic benefits of BNCT. This review summarizes delivery platforms based on natural products for BNCT. In this review, delivery platforms for boron agents using natural products including lipids, polysaccharides, polypeptides, and extracellular vesicle for boron neutron capture therapy were summarized. These nanosystems enabled to enhance deliverability of boron agents to tumor tissues with high specificity, resulting in therapeutic benefits of boron neutron capture therapy are enhanced. image