AW: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear News - New Drug Protects against RadiationDamage

[Rainer.Facius at dlr.de]

Apoptosis is a major - if not dominant - protective mechanism, by which eukaryotic cells with defective genes become neutralized and hence transformation and subsequent carcinogenesis is prevented. Suppression of apoptosis by CBLB502 in normal cells of surrounding tissue (which receive low dose stray radiation only) may turn out to be a mixed blessing. If all cells of the body become exposed to CBLB502, then the thereby induced amplified incidence rate of cells which become transformed by the perpetual background mutation rates- mainly due to byproducts of cellular metabolism, it remains to be demonstrated that the net effect of such a treatment is beneficial.

Rainer Facius

Dr. Rainer Facius
German Aerospace Center
Institute of Aerospace Medicine
Linder Hoehe
51147 Koeln
GERMANY
Voice: +49 2203 601 3147 or 3150
FAX:   +49 2203 61970


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Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl im Auftrag von Evers, William C.
Gesendet: Fr 11.04.2008 15:25
An: radsafe at radlab.nl
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear News - New Drug Protects against RadiationDamage




New Drug Protects against Radiation Damage


http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=new-drug-protects-against-radiation-
damage

A new drug may protect healthy tissue during cancer-killing radiation
treatments or other exposures. Molecular geneticist Andrei Gudkov and
colleagues report in Science this week that they protected mice from the
cell-damaging effects of radiation by injecting them with a compound
that helps cells resist apoptosis, or self-destruction.

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