Definition

The pentahydrate sodium salt form of the naturally occurring mineral and element boron, with potential radioprotective, cryoprotective, antioxidant, apoptotic, wound healing, anti-inflammatory and antineoplastic activities. Upon administration, sodium pentaborate appears to exert various anticancer and protective activities via multiple mechanisms of actions (MoAs) even though the exact MoAs have yet to be fully elucidated. Sodium pentaborate causes gene expression alterations of multiple essential genes, affecting both upregulations and downregulations. Many of the dysregulated genes serve key roles in various biological processes, including the inflammation response, stress response, cellular growth, proliferation, apoptosis and tumorigenesis/oncolysis. Specifically, the upregulation of proapoptotic genes may induce cell cycle arrest at different phases and may decrease tumor cell proliferation in susceptible tumor cells. Sodium pentaborate may also induce oxidative stress which results in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and in enhanced apoptosis, thereby further inducing tumor cell apoptosis.