CASE-MATE: Computer-Aided Cell Seeding, Microcloning, Analysis, and Telemetric Evaluation Applied to Neutron Capture Therapy

Abstract

The disintegration of boron nuclei into alpha particles and lithium nuclei makes NCT a high LET therapy modality. There are various indications for the use of high-LET in radiation, especially when single doses are administered. In many situations this advantage is a mixed blessing: high-LET radiations help to reduce radiation-resistance effects caused by the cell cycle or differences in oxygenation levels, but at the cost of a linear dose-response curve. However, it is the very nonlinear nature of dose-response curves which is the reason for the success of fractionated radiation therapy. The nonlinear component of radiation response results from physiological responses mounted by the cell to deal with radiation damage. In an accompanying paper (Crompton et al.) we demonstrate that apoptosis, programmed cell death, is clearly induced by NCT. Therefore, cells are capable of mounting a physiological response to NCT-induced damage. It is vital to quantify the magnitude of this contribution in order to predict the efficiency of NCT and to understand better therapeutic mechanisms of action, and we hope to accomplish this using the CASE-MATE system.