Drug Found to Offer Protection from Radiation Damage

Scientists have developed a new drug known as CBLB592 which appears to block radiation damage to the body and has the potential to make radiotherapy cancer treatments safer and more effective. The drug could also be used in the event of a "dirty bomb" or nuclear disaster.

Radiation kills cancerous cells be causing damage which encourages cell suicide, or apoptosis. However, healthy tissues are also sensitive to radiation, particularly the bone marrow and gastrointestinal tract. This limits the amount of radiation physicians can use in cancer treatment.

In a series of experiments, researchers injected CBLB592 into mice and rhesus monkeys from 15 minutes to an hour before exposing the animals to lethal doses of full-body radiation. They found the drug dramatically improved the animals' survival however didn't block radiation from treating the tumors of the mice.

abstract