0000000000189519
AUTHOR
Daniele Margarone
The Proton-Boron Reaction Increases the Radiobiological Effectiveness of Clinical Low- and High-Energy Proton Beams: Novel Experimental Evidence and Perspectives
Protontherapy is a rapidly expanding radiotherapy modality where accelerated proton beams are used to precisely deliver the dose to the tumor target but is generally considered ineffective against radioresistant tumors. Proton-Boron Capture Therapy (PBCT) is a novel approach aimed at enhancing proton biological effectiveness. PBCT exploits a nuclear fusion reaction between low-energy protons and 11B atoms, i.e. p+11B→ 3α (p-B), which is supposed to produce highly-DNA damaging α-particles exclusively across the tumor-conformed Spread-Out Bragg Peak (SOBP), without harming healthy tissues in the beam entrance channel. To confirm previous work on PBCT, here we report new in-vitro data obtained…
Carbon nanotubes embedded in a polyimide foil for proton acceleration with a sub-ns laser
A series of thin films made of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in a polyimide substrate was designed, fabricated and used for the first time to accelerate protons and C ions by interaction with a sub-nanosecond, high power laser beam (600 J energy and 300 ps pulse width) with peak intensity of about 3 × 1016 W/cm2 on target. Each target was 5 μm thick, and the composite material contained CNTs aligned in different directions in the substrate. The results obtained from the analysis of a Thomson Parabola spectrometer, and of the spots imprinted by ions on a series of PM355 nuclear track detectors, indicate high energies (up to 3 MeV for protons and 9 MeV for C ions) and a marked infl…