HSINCHU, Taiwan, Sept. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan has become the first institution in Taiwan to successfully apply boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) to breast cancer, expanding the clinical application of the targeted radiotherapy technology beyond brain and head-and-neck cancers. In collaboration with Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) and Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, NTHU has completed compassionate-use BNCT treatments for five patients with recurrent triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Follow-up results showed significant tumor reduction with limited damage to surrounding normal tissues, highlighting the potential of BNCT as a new treatment option for patients with difficult-to-treat recurrent breast cancer.
“Breast cancer has the highest incidence among cancers affecting women in Taiwan, with approximately 17,000 new cases diagnosed each year,” said Yi-Wei Chen, Director of the Department of Radiation Oncology at TVGH and a long-time collaborator with NTHU. “There is a substantial need for new treatment options, particularly because breast tumors are highly heterogeneous and can respond differently to treatment.”
TNBC is particularly challenging because its cancer cells lack three major receptors—estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). As a result, patients with TNBC cannot benefit from hormone therapy or anti-HER2 targeted therapies, leaving them with fewer treatment options and a higher risk of recurrence.
Chen explained that BNCT is a biologically targeted form of high-linear energy transfer (LET) radiation therapy. Patients first receive a boron-10 containing drug that preferentially accumulates in tumor cells, followed by irradiation with an epi-thermal neutron beam. When boron-10 captures neutrons, it produces high-energy alpha particles and lithium nuclei that release their energy within only a few micrometers—approximately the diameter of a single cell—causing lethal damage primarily to boron-loaded tumor cells.
The effectiveness of BNCT depends on both the tumor’s ability to accumulate sufficient amounts of the boron-10 containing agent and the quality and stability of the neutron beam. NTHU’s long-standing expertise in boron-10 containing drug research and neutron irradiation technology has provided a critical foundation for extending BNCT to breast cancer.
NTHU and the TVGH team previously published case studies on BNCT for recurrent breast cancer and breast cancer patients with brain metastases in the international journal Advances in Radiation Oncology. The results showed that tumors in the irradiated areas of breast cancer patients with brain metastases shrank, while some patients also experienced reductions in pain and weakness, as well as improvements in gait. Although BNCT is currently used as a local salvage treatment and is not intended to replace surgery or systemic drug therapy, the team hopes that, after accumulating sufficient cases and follow-up data, it can further advance BNCT toward human clinical trials for breast cancer.
Jinn-Jer Peir, a nuclear engineer at NTHU’s Nuclear Science and Technology Development Center, said that the Tsing Hua Open-pool Reactor (THOR) is Taiwan’s only research nuclear reactor and added that it has operated safely for more than six decades. Compared with accelerator-based BNCT facilities, which generate neutrons by directing charged particles at a target and therefore involve technical challenges such as maintaining a vacuum environment and dissipating heat from the target, NTHU’s reactor THOR can continuously provide a large and stable neutron beam, which allows for shorter irradiation time during treatment.
Peir noted that the NTHU Nuclear Science and Technology Development Center completed its first BNCT irradiation in 2010, and that the “NTHU Neutron Irradiation System” obtained medical device approval from Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2023. To date, the system has conducted more than 700 irradiation treatments through clinical trials and compassionate use. It is an internationally recognized medical facility that has performed more BNCT irradiations than any facility outside Japan, attracting patients from around the world for treatment.
The NTHU Nuclear Science and Technology Development Center also has a multidisciplinary team that has collaborated for more than 20 years. Professor Fong-In Chou, widely known as the “Mother of BNCT,” specializes in the development of boron-containing drugs and personally attends every treatment session. Peir, a first-class nuclear engineer, is responsible for treatment planning. TVGH physician Chen oversees the process from patient selection through clinical treatment and follow-up. The team also brings together physicians and experts from NTHU, integrating medicine, pharmaceuticals, and nuclear engineering to establish a precise and rigorous treatment process.
Peir said that NTHU currently conducts BNCT through two parallel approaches: human clinical trials and compassionate-use treatment. Among 437 compassionate-use cases followed during the early stage, the overall objective response rate (ORR) was 70.2%, meaning that approximately 70% of cases achieved either complete disappearance or significant shrinkage of tumors. Among patients with head and neck cancers, the ORR was even higher, reaching 80%. These results demonstrate the potential of NTHU’s BNCT for local tumor control and provide patients with difficult-to-treat cancers with a new option for controlling their disease beyond conventional treatments.
NTHU said the team will continue developing new boron-containing drugs and treatment plans for liver cancer, lung cancer, and melanoma. The liver cancer boron-containing drug “Boroncide,” developed by Professor Chou’s team, is currently undergoing relevant reviews prior to human clinical trials. NTHU is also planning to introduce a next-generation Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR) to further expand the research and clinical applications of BNCT.
NTHU nuclear engineers Jinn-Jer Peir (second from right) and Yung-Shin Tseng (second from left), along with TVGH physician Yi-Wei Chen (right), simulate the positioning of the neutron beam irradiation field for a breast cancer patient. (Photo: National Tsing Hua University)
Contact:
Hong-Lin Chan
NTHU
(886)3-5731001
hlchan@life.nthu.edu.tw
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/02615267-fbbc-4aa7-9e05-250ab9d90b2d
