The new research could not only improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy in cancer but also help prevent radiation sickness after exposure to a nuclear accident or attack.
While radiotherapy is an important tool in the fight against cancer, it has serious side side-effects on healthy cells in the bone marrow, gut and spleen. The radiation also damaged the DNA of healthy cells, prompting them to kill themselves through a process known as apoptosis, lead author Lyudmila Burdelya of New York state's Roswell Park Cancer Institute said.
CBLB502 is made from a salmonella protein that naturally makes cells resistant to cell suicide. It works by activating a well-known molecular pathway that some cancer cells use.
A single dose of the drug given to the animals shortly before receiving radiation therapy significantly reduced damage to sensitive bone marrow and gastrointestinal cells and prolonged their survival, authors said.
The drug also improved survival of mice when given an hour after the animals got a dose of radiation. The study was published in the April 11 edition of the American review Science. A study to see if the drug is safe in people could begin by this year.
