Lithium May Help Radiation Target Cancer, Spare Healthy Tissue

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators have uncovered a mechanism that helps explain how lithium, a drug widely used to treat bipolar mood disorder, also protects the brain from damage that occurs during radiation treatments.

In the May 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Fen Xia, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues show that lithium promotes DNA repair in healthy cells but not in brain tumor cells. The findings suggest that lithium treatment could offer a way to protect healthy brain tissue from damage that may occur during cranial radiation treatments.

Cranial irradiation is part of standard therapy for both primary and metastatic brain tumors. However, as with all treatment modalities, radiation often causes long-term side effects. In particular, neurological impairments – including lowered IQ, learning difficulties and memory loss – have been reported, especially in children treated for brain cancers. Radiation-induced damage to the healthy cells of the hippocampus, a brain structure crucial for learning and memory, is one likely source of these deficits.

source: Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center