Amid terror threats, new wish for radiation antidote

a number of the compounds, along with the drug rapamycin, have formerly been shown to increase lifestyles in organisms which include worms and flies, although it is unknown if they might have the equal advantage in people. UVA's research indicates that these compounds, or comparable tablets, may counter the deadly effects of ionizing radiation.

presently there may be no remedy for humans exposed to deadly doses of radiation; docs can best attempt to ease their suffering until demise. "in case you're uncovered to a totally, very high dose, it is rapid deterioration and immediate death," defined John S. Lazo, PhD, of UVA's department of Pharmacology. "it is the decrease doses that people -- specifically governments -- are involved approximately. The kind of exposure that would end result from a grimy bomb or a nuclear accident. How do we alleviate the consequences? what's the antidote? right now, we simply do not have some thing."

revolutionary method

Lazo and his colleague Elizabeth R. Sharlow, PhD, screened a library of extra than 3,400 current capsules, nutrients and different compounds to become aware of ones that could assist cells withstand the consequences of radiation exposure. The aim became to keep stem cells -- the cells that produce the numerous cell sorts within the frame -- alive long enough to repair the harm resulting from radiation.

"We wanted to locate already authorised drugs that would potentially preserve stem cells, or progenitor cells, alive after radiation exposure," Sharlow stated. "this is very a whole lot of interest to the NIH [National Institutes of Health] proper now: How can we maintain those self-renewing populations alive in an effort to absolutely assist heal the consequences of radiation publicity?"

once they recognized capability leads, Sharlow created 3-D laptop models to compare the substances' chemical systems. That evaluation diagnosed a cluster of promising compounds with similar structures -- a tantalizing lead inside the quest for an antidote. "in case you're a drug hunter, the manner we're, that is truly cool statistics," Lazo stated. "because you may say, 'Now i can appearance in the universe of 40 million compounds. What else seems like that? Are they useful?'"

He referred to that it's miles unlikely someone drug or compound will paintings on its own. "numerous us in this area think it'll be a cocktail of factors you take," he said. "And if you think you want cocktails, you want the man or woman elements. that's why we think this is pretty important -- because it's providing new elements for that cocktail."