Boron Neutron Capture Therapy as a Cutting-Edge Strategy for Cancer Veterinary Patients

Abstract

Cancer is a major cause of death in pets, and pet owners look for advanced and novel therapies for them. Cutting-edge therapies for the treatment of cancer in veterinary patients, including terminal patients, would give them a chance of a better life and increase life expectancy, while giving translational results and recommendations for human cancer patients. Between the well-known oncological conventional therapies, radiation therapy is used for the treatment of several tumors; however, it has important limitations regarding tumor targeting, limiting its therapeutic effect and patient quality of life and survival. In this sense, Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is an outstanding approach for the treatment of different solid tumors. It has been extensively studied experimentally in in vitro and in vivo models and evaluated in veterinary and human clinical trials around the world. It combines the advantages of biological targeting and heavy ion radiation therapy, and is applied once or at least twice. In this review, we describe the importance of Comparative Veterinary Oncology to develop new strategies for pets and humans, describe BNCT and detailed its use as a cutting-edge therapy for pets around the world, and conclude with the importance of Comparative Oncology to improve and move forward in BNCT for humans.