Gadolinium neutron-capture therapy using novel gadopentetic acid–chitosan complex nanoparticles: in vivo growth suppression of experimental melanoma solid tumor

The potential of gadolinium neutron-capture therapy (Gd-NCT) for cancer was evaluated using chitosan nanoparticles as a novel gadolinium device. The nanoparticles, incorporating 1200 μg of natural gadolinium, were administered intratumorally twice in mice bearing subcutaneous B16F10 melanoma. The thermal neutron irradiation was performed for the tumor site, with the fluence of 6.32×1012 neutrons/cm2, 8 h after the second gadolinium administration. After the irradiation, the tumor growth in the nanoparticle-administered group was significantly suppressed compared to that in the gadopentetate solution-administered group, despite radioresistance of melanoma and the smaller Gd dose than that administered in past Gd-NCT trials. This study demonstrated the potential usefulness of Gd-NCT using gadolinium-loaded nanoparticles.