Title: BNCT for Three-Dimensional Oral Cancer Model
With great joy, we would like to invite you to the seventh BNCT International Webinar. The speaker will be Kazuyo Igawa, associate professor at Neutron Therapy Research Center (NTRC) of Okayama University and head of the International Collaboration and Education Research Division at NTRC.
The webinar will be held virtually (zoom platform), on Friday 9th May at 11 UTC. It will be a 45-minute webinar: 30 minutes exposition + 15 minutes discussion. We will have to stick to the time because participants will be from all over the world!
ZOOM LINK INFO:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6935007802?pwd=e5k6R7yAbOYnstpTR3dlQ5oCbMzawW.1&omn=82070750152
Meeting ID: 693 500 7802
Code: 920711
Name: Kazuyo Igawa
Title: BNCT for Three-Dimensional Oral Cancer Model
Abstract:
There are growing expectations for novel radiation therapies to maintain and improve the quality of life of cancer patients as cancer function-preserving therapies. Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), one of the novel cancer radiation therapies, is covered by health insurance for head and neck cancer in Japan from 2020, and further development of boron agents and neutron sources and expansion of indications are underway. However, BNCT requires preclinical studies on new boron agents and new accelerator-based BNCT systems to evaluate safety and efficacy, and thus requires a large amount of money and a long time to reach clinical application. On the other hand, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declared that it will no longer be necessary to conduct animal testing in order to obtain approval for new drugs in 2022 and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a directive calling for a 30% reduction in requests for and funding of animal testing using mammals by 2025, and for the complete abolition of such testing by 2035. Therefore, there is a strong need for an alternative animal study model in BNCT.
The FDA uses alternative methods to reduce or replace animal testing in the evaluation of regulated products. These methods include in vitro methods, in silico models, 3 D tissue culture, Stem cell research, Non-invasive diagnostic imaging, bioprinting and so on. In particular, radiotherapy requires a method that can simultaneously evaluate the effectiveness of cancer cells and the damage to surrounding normal cells in the irradiation field. To solve this problem, we have developed a three-dimensional oral cancer model consisting of a bilayer structure of normal human cells and cancer cells, which mimics the physiological environment of the human body. We report here on our evaluation of the safety and efficacy of radiation therapy using this three-dimensional oral cancer model, including X-rays, heavy particle beams, and neutron beams. In the future, we hope to provide multidisciplinary treatment combining BNCT with chemotherapy and other radiation therapy, depending on the type of cancer, the degree of progression, and the stage, using three-dimensional cancer models using patient-derived cells.
Biography:
After completing her doctorate in surgery at the Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, in 2008, she worked as an oral surgeon at the University of Tokyo, conducting translational research on minimally invasive treatments in the field of oral surgery, and realized minimally invasive bone graft using a 3D inkjet printer artificial bone. In addition, from 2010 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University of Gothenburg, where she acquired clinical skills in oral maxillofacial surgery and also obtained an EU animal license, and conducted research on bone regeneration using micro-artificial bone. From 2012, as the head of the oral surgery department at Southern Tohoku General Hospital, she has been involved in clinical oral surgery and cancer treatment, and since 2014 she has been working as the head of the BNCT department on clinical research into head and neck cancer using boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Since 2017, as an associate professor at Neutron Therapy Research Center (NTRC) of Okayama University, she has been developing three-dimensional oral cancer models using patient-derived cells, has been researching methods for evaluating the efficacy of cancer treatment, and since 2022 has been promoting research and education in the field of BNCT with the International Atomic Energy Agency as the head of the International Collaboration and Education Research Division at NTRC.