Determination of 10B in lymphoma human cells after boron carrier treatment: comparison of 10BPA and immuno-nanoparticles

Current cancer treatments lead to insufficient distribution of therapeutic agents in tumor cells due to their lack of selectivity often causing adverse effects in the normal cell uptake of the drug. The challenge is to design therapeutic drugs able to maximize the treatment of malignant cancers while minimizing their adverse effects. In this study, ¹⁰B incorporation in the B chronic lymphocytic leukemia cell line MEC-1 was investigated. The cells were treated with l-p-¹⁰borophenylalanine (¹⁰BPA) and ¹⁰boron immuno-nanoparticles (BNPs) loaded with ¹⁰BPA with or without the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody for different contact times. The uptake of ¹⁰B by the cells was determined by the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) after acid mineralization. To obtain accurate and consistent data, the analytical procedure was optimized using factorial experimental design. It was observed that BNP loaded with ¹⁰BPA and anti-CD20 represents the best carrier system for ¹⁰B in B cells for long time (>10 h) whereas ¹⁰BPA seems to be the top drug for short time (< 4 h) procedures.