Since tumors “attract albumin,” it is a perfect protein to be turned into a drug carrier – and has done such duty in therapy for other cancers, including those of breast, lung and pancreas.

In 26 tumor-bearing mice, “the team found that the boron concentrated highly and efficiently in tumors; the active uptake of boron by the albumin led to double the concentration of boron reaching tumors than previous systems,” according to the institute report, which noted that “thermal irradiation was then carried out on the mice, and led to the significant suppression of tumor growth even at low boron levels.”


Before this research, albumin's “ability to transport boron for BNCT” had not been tested.

“This technique could limit existing problems of using blood-based products in cancer treatment,” noted the researchers. “Albumin could be taken from patients in hospital prior to treatment, then used in MID-AC [the capsule delivery system] to carry boron to tumors in the patients' own bodies. This will limit contamination and encourage the acceptance of the system by the patients' immune systems.”

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