New Drug Protects Against Radiation Damage

[TZ]

HealthDay News) -- A modified version of a natural intestinal protein has protected animals against the damage caused by the kind of radiation used in cancer therapy, researchers report.

A first human trial of the protective treatment could start later this year, said study co-author Andrei V. Gudkov, senior vice president for basic research at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. The report on the animal trials was published in the April 11 issue of Science.

"This is a version of a protein which is produced by bacteria that are inhabitants of our body," Gudkov explained. "It is made by bacteria to protect normal tissues for their own selfish reasons."

The bacteria survive because the protein, flagellin, prevents intestinal cells from starting the programmed cell death process called apoptosis, he explained. The laboratory-made version of flagellin, designated CBLB502, does the same thing to all cells of the body by temporarily blocking activity of NF-kappaB, a central molecule in the cell death pathway
http://www.livescience.com/healthday/614374.html

[glowing]

1. How the rich will survive, after Bushie bombs the hell out of the world.

[Phoonzang]

2. Or it could help people undergoing radiation therapy

n/t

[Duppers]

5. wonderful news, but....

But hells bells, this has come 2 yrs. too late for my hubby who has radiation treatment for thyroid cancer.
During his treatment protocol, he had to starve his remaining thyroid tissue of iodine (he had a complete thyroidectomy, but microscopic tissue remained after surgery). Doctors then that gave him radiated iodine to destroy the remaining cells. That remaining tissue in his throat was close enough to his brain, that they told him he'd lose some brain cells!! What a choice! But whatyado--risking dying or kill a few brain cells? Sadly, he has indeed noticed a very slight difference in functioning (but he's still brilliant--honk, honk).
I wish THIS new protection had been available then.

From the article:

Cancer cells are hard to kill, because they lose the apoptosis mechanism when they undergo their transformation to malignancy, and so can grow indefinitely, Gudkov said. "So, we decided to imitate pharmacologically what tumors do genetically," he said.

Like flagellin, CBLB502 does not act directly on apoptosis, he said. Instead, it stimulates cells in the body to make substances that give protection.

A first request for a human trial has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Gudkov said. The initial use would be in preloaded syringes designed to protect people exposed to radiation in a radioactivity-releasing accident, he said.

A human trial of the drug to limit damage done by radiation treatment of cancer is expected to follow, "we hope this year," Gudkov said.

[Duppers]

6. never mind

just remember the remaining thyroid cells in my husband's neck were not cancerous, so this would not have helped him.

[Occulus]

3. Oh, now, stop. This could have *really* helped both my mom and dad

They both suffered from different forms of cancer. Mom is still alive, but dad passed away in 2002. Mom has bad teeth because of the radiation treatments she went through. As a side bonus, the radiation therapy burned her salivary glands right out of her head and she now has to have water readily available wherever she goes. That said, the radiation treatments and the surgery saved her life, and a treatment that would have allowed her body to survive the effects of the radiation intact would have added greatly to her quality of life.

This could help a lot of people.

[Celebration]

4. yes, a very good discovery indeed n/t

[NickB79]

7. So it prevents apoptosis of cells with DNA damaged by radiation?

Um, isn't that just begging to be riddled with cancerous tumors a few years afterward?

The body is destroying those cells for a very good reason: they're dangerous to keep alive. I mean, it buys you time, but it's not like this makes nuclear fallout exposure a successfully treatable illness.

[Random_Australian]

8. On the other hand, I can't think of any medicine ever that has done more than

buy people time. :) World fatality rate bieng 100% and all.

[Jim__]

9. The way I read the article, one of the difficulties is to be sure not to protect tumor cells.

It sounds like there is a lot more work to be done. But, it does have some promise:

"But I would have a little bit of caution before jumping to the conclusion that this would be useful in humans," Lawrence said. Other efforts to develop radiation-protective treatments have run up against the fact that "it is difficult to find something that won't protect at least some cancer cells," he said.

Any drug treatment that allows some cancer cells to survive radiation bombardment falls short of complete protection, Lawrence added.

"Will it really protect in all people?" he asked. "The drug stimulates cells in the body to make substances that give protection. Whether they all get made in people exactly as in animals needs to be tested. One would want to see a lot more information in animal systems and adults to be sure that we don't protect some tumor cells in humans."

[Kip Humphrey]

10. If this drug prevents apoptosis in every cell in the body, does it therefore,

extend both the longevity of all cells and the longevity of the composite organism? In other words, is this the Fountain of Youth pill or the ultimate carcinogenic weapon (useful for targeted assassinations)?

[TZ]

11. Neither

Its a drug that will protect/minimize damage done to cells by radiation from either cancer therapies or even nuclear incidents.