Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is an emerging binary cancer radiotherapy with significant advantages in the precise ablation of tumors in comparison to other therapies. Its clinical efficacy has been validated in the treatment of locally invasive tumors such as gliomas, melanomas, and osteosarcomas. Boron carriers are the cornerstone of effective BNCT, and boronophenylalanine and sodium borocaptate are clinically approved boron agents to date. The former suffers from low boron content, necessitating repeated administration, while the latter lacks tumor selectivity and causes nonspecific damage to normal tissues. Boronated nanomedicines, characterized by high boron loading capacity and potent tumor-targeting ability, offer opportunities for achieving optimal clinical outcomes in BNCT. This review summarizes the research advances in various boronated nanomedicines over the past decade and introduces the relevant research efforts dedicated to the sensitization of BNCT. It also highlights the research progress of BNCT combined with immunotherapy, chemotherapy, gene therapy, and photothermal therapy and finally concludes the application of non-10B-enriched boronated nanomedicines in BNCT. Furthermore, this paper discusses in depth the challenges and breakthroughs encountered during the clinical translation of boron-containing nanomedicines and provides insights into the development of next-generation boron-based nanomedicines.
Xie et al. (Mon,) studied this question.