title: New strategies for the prevention of radiation injury: possible implications for countering radiation hazards of long-term space travel.
abstract: New strategies for the prevention of radiation injuries are currently being explored with the ultimate aim of developing globally radioprotective, nontoxic pharmacologics. The prophylactic treatments under review encompass such diverse pharmacologic classes as novel immunomodulators, nutritional antioxidants, and cytokines. An immunomodulator that shows promise is 5-androstenediol (AED), a well-tolerated, long-acting androstene steroid with broad-spectrum radioprotective attributes that include not only protection against acute tissue injury, but also reduced susceptibility to infectious agents, as well as reduced rates of neoplastic transformation. Other potentially useful radioprotectants currently under study include the nutraceutical vitamin E and analogs, a chemically-engineered cytokine, interleukin-1beta, and a sustained-release formulation of an aminothiol, amifostine. Results suggest that a new paradigm is evolving for the prophylaxes of radiation injuries, based on use of newly identified, nontoxic, broad-spectrum prophylactic agents whose protective action may be leveraged by subsequent postexposure use of cytokines with organ-specific reparative functions.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Casualty Management, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20889-5603, USA. seed@afrri.usuhs.mil
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seed
authors.forename: Sree
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Whitnall
authors.forename: Venkataraman
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Landauer
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Cheng-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Cyndi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Inal
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deen
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gehlhaus
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hilyard
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pendergrass
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Toles
authors.forename: Vilmar
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Villa
authors.forename: Venita
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Miner
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benjack
authors.forename: Dimitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Danilenko
authors.forename: Ckatherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Farrell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000379:methods; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013026:Space Flight; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents