Research news: Drug seems to protect against radiation

The News:
Drug seems to protect against radiation
In an early stage of research, mice and monkeys survived lethal amounts of radiation.
By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 04/11/2008 12:30:38 AM MDT
WASHINGTON — Scientists mimicked one of cancer's sneaky tricks to create a drug that promises to prevent a serious side effect of cancer treatment — radiation damage — or offer an antidote during a nuclear emergency.
A single dose of the experimental drug protected both mice and monkeys from what should have been lethal doses of radiation, researchers report in today's edition of the journal Science. A study to see whether the compound is safe in people could begin as early as this summer.
It's still early-stage research, and other efforts to create radiation protectants haven't yet panned out. But specialists are closely watching the work — and the government is helping to fund it — because it's a new approach to protecting the body's most radiation-sensitive tissues from being blasted.
"It has important implications for radiation exposure," said Dr. David Kirsch, a Duke University radiation oncologist who wasn't involved in the drug research.
Radiation is a powerful tool to destroy cancer cells. But certain healthy tissues are especially sensitive to it, too — particularly the bone marrow and gastrointestinal tract. That vulnerability can limit how much radiation physicians can give cancer patients.
And when it comes to radiation emergencies, such as the Chernobyl accident, full-body exposure to high doses can cause an extremely lethal "GI syndrome" that has no treatment.
It turns out that radiation doesn't kill healthy cells in the same way it kills cancer cells. Read more...

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.