The 5-year survival rate for patients afflicted with aggressive and intractable malignant brain tumours (gliomas) is very poor (< 4%). We have incorporated Gd3+ ions into mitochondrial-targeting agents in order to localise the metal ion near a critical sub-cellular organelle for application in cutting-edge binary cancer therapies such as photon activation therapy (PAT) and neutron capture therapy (NCT). We have already demonstrated substantial and selective brain tumour tumour cell destruction in the presence of a prototype Gd agent and synchrotron X-ray photons, the first time that GdPAT experiments have ever been conducted in Australia using the Imaging and Medical Beamline at the Australian Synchrotron. The use of Gd agents to target tumour cell mitochondria would open up new vistas in binary cancer therapies, with potential tumour imaging applications in MRI.
