A comparison of three gadolinium based approaches to cancer therapy

Some recent neutron capture therapy (NCT) research has focused on using compounds containing the element gadolinium (Gd), which produces internal conversion and Auger cascade electrons upon absorbing thermal neutrons. The low energy, nanometer-range, Auger electrons are absorbed locally and significantly increase cell killing when Gd binds to DNA. Two other methods induce Auger electrons in gadolinium isotopes: the beta decay of 159Gd, and K shell photoelectric events during photon irradiation. To determine the potential application that Auger cascades from these three processes could have in brain tumor therapy, macroscopic and microscopic radiation transport calculations were employed to relate peak brain dose to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in tumor cells. Macroscopic calculations indicated that even optimal gadolinium distributions produce GdNCT and Gd photon activation therapy (PAT) dose distributions in brain tumors less favorable than those with boron-based NCT. 59Gd radionuclide therapy (RNT), however, produced more favorable dose distributions, assuming optimal tumor retention. Microscopic transport calculations superimposed Auger electron tracks over an atomistic model of mammalian chromatin fiber and tracked resulting OH, H, and eaq radicals to determine strand breaks.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Goorley, John Timothy, 1974-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Robert Zamenhof.

• Nuclear Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30001

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/30001