Patent ID: 8278315

Claim:
A method for preferential disruption of malfunctioning cells in a living mammal, which comprises: (a) administering a compound which associates with DNA in cells of said mammal, said compound comprising a pre-selected element selected from the group consisting of Pt, Ca, Ti, Br, I, Gd, Y and Ru; and then (b) irradiating a selected region, in which malfunctioning cells having said compound associated with DNA are located, with line emission x-rays from an X-ray tube, said line emission X-rays being of an energy selected to cause emission of Auger electrons from said pre-selected element of said compound in a dose effective to disrupt DNA proximate to the irradiated pre-selected element, said dose for each activation of said X-ray tube being at least about 10 6 Gy localized with a distance of a few atomic diameters from the pre-selected element, said selected region being a localized region which predominantly contains the malfunctioning cells so as to localize the effects of disrupting DNA to the malfunctioning cells and to minimize the effect on normal cells.