The so-called white glue is a classic among glues. Its main use is to glue porous materials, such as wood, but now, one of its components, polyvinyl alcohol, can help us in a radically different field: that of cancer treatments.
An aid for radiotherapy. Specifically, radiotherapy in the fight against cancers of the neck and head. According to a new study, the compound could help better focus treatment, preventing it from damaging healthy cells in its attack against cancer cells.
The key is in the combination of this polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with a compound called D-PBA, which could be used in a type of radiation therapy called boron neutron capture therapy or BNCT.
“We have discovered that PVA, which is used in liquid glue, dramatically improves the effectiveness of a compound called D-BPA, which until now had been eliminated from the drug’s ingredients as it was considered useless,” explained in a press release Takahiro Nomoto, member of the team responsible for the study.
BNCT. The boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a form of radiotherapy that is based on the administration of a boron-containing compound to patients. The idea is to cause boron to accumulate in cancer cells and then expose them to low-intensity neutrons. These neutrons react with boron, destroying cancer cells without harming healthy ones.
BNCT radiotherapy therefore has the advantage of being a targeted therapy, but presents two problems. The first is that these low-energy neutrons are weak, which limits their range of effectiveness to areas close to the surface. This is why the therapy is useful in the treatment of cancers such as neck and head cancer, which usually occur near the surface, but not in deeper ones.
The second problem is that there is some limitation in our present ability to “direct” therapy. Today, a variant of boronophenylalanine is used, called L-BPA. This substance fulfills its function of accumulating boron in cancer cells, but in certain contexts it also causes the element to accumulate in some healthy cells.
From L-BPA to D-BPA. Now, the team responsible for the new study has observed that the combination of PVA with another compound called D-BPA, can help improve the aculination and retention of boron in cancer cells, improving the effectiveness of BNCT radiotherapy.
D-BPA is the enantiomer of L-BPA, that is, a symmetrical molecule that cannot be rotated in three-dimensional space to become the other, like a right hand it is symmetrical to the left but not identical. These molecules are chiralso the way in which they react chemically with the rest of the molecules inside us varies.
Details of the study were published in an article in the magazine Journal of Controlled Release.
Improving efficiency. Until now, L-BPA and not D-BPA had been used in treatment because there was no evidence that it contributed to the treatment, that is, this compound was considered pharmacologically useless. However, the new study observed that combining PVA with this compound promoted the accumulation of boron and its retention in cancer cells, making the treatment more effective.
Like D-BPA, PVA is a pharmacologically harmless substance in this context, but this is not the first study to indicate that it could help us fight cancer by improving the capacity of radiotherapy. In a previous studythe team noted that this compound could also help improve the effectiveness of L-BPA by improving boron accumulation and retention.
In laboratory. For now, the positive results are limited to the laboratory context, so we will still have to wait before knowing if this new idea has a real application in practice.
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Image | Jo McNamara