NuCapCure

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most common types of brain cancer. Of the approximately 240,000 people a year who are diagnosed with brain cancer, GBM accounts for 14.6-16% of them. The current treatment options, which involve surgery followed by a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, have a limited curative impact and impose a significant health and financial burden on patients and the healthcare system.

Therefore, the research project NuCapCure aims to create an innovative treatment strategy by creating customised boron-containing photosensitisers (PSs) using intracellular biochemistry. The project combines proton radiotherapy, proton-induced PS activation, boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), and neutron-induced PS activation. One of the core objectives of the NuCapCure project focuses on the design, development, validation, and optimisation of boron-modified PS prodrugs. These compounds will facilitate the intracellular production of boron-modified PSs by hijacking vital biosynthetic pathways. Put differently, the cancer cells will become small individual chemical laboratories that generate the final drugs, leading to their destruction through neutron- or accelerated proton-based treatments. The specificity of the bespoke PSs to the cancer cells is crucial for sparing the normal tissue surrounding the lesions.