A new drug being developed for the US military can protect cells against the effects of radiation, according to a study publish today in the journal Science.
Research shows that tumor cells are not given the same protection by the drug. Link -via Digg
Although radiation is an important weapon used by doctors to blast cancers, drugs that limit radiation's devastating effects on healthy cells are needed to reduce the potentially severe side effects.
Radiation induces damage in healthy tissues not by directly killing cells but by prompting them to commit "suicide" through a process called apoptosis.
The new drug, called "Protectan CBLB502, tested in mice and monkeys, protects radiation-blasted tissues by shutting down this cell death programme, which the body normally turns on in cells with damaged DNA to keep them from multiplying, says Dr Lyudmila Burdelya, who worked with Drs Vadim Krivokrysenko and Andrei Gudkov at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and colleagues at the company Cleveland BioLabs, also in Buffalo, New York,
Research shows that tumor cells are not given the same protection by the drug. Link -via Digg
Its not protecting the cancerous cells, its protecting the NON-cancerous cells =P
"Protectan CBLB502, tested in mice and monkeys, protects radiation-blasted tissues by shutting down this cell death programme, which the body normally turns on in cells with damaged DNA to keep them from multiplying"
So now the cells with damaged DNA are allowed to multiply? Way to override the body's natural wisdom. What crazy new forms of tumours is this drug going to cause?
These researchers and studies are paid for by the pharmaceutical indusry. Big Pharma can and does influence the way the research is done and the results that are concluded. They only care about stock prices and making billions of dollars. They could care less if the drug works or if it significantly contributes to 20,000 new cases of diabetis or the proliferation of suicide/murder cases around the world.
It's all about the almighty dollar to Big Pharma.
It's a common conspiracy-theory-style assumption. If a company is big, and makes profit, it must be evil and corrupt. This assumption is not supported by the evidence.
And btw, the FDA's drug trial program is the single most thorough evaluation system in the world... for ANYTHING... by a landslide. They check and recheck and recheck research to a level that you cannot imagine. I personally was absolutely astounded when I learned the extent of this process.
In addition, "Big Pharm" is responsible for discovery, function, efficiency, and production of most of the drugs that you take for basically anything. If it were not for Pharmaceutical companies, you would probably never have been born and if you had, you would have had a slim chance to reach the age that you are now.
Also, a single ATTEMPT at producing a drug for cancer treatment typically costs "big pharm" $500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million Dollars) and many of those drugs fail and are trashed. In addition, those drugs that pass the FDA approval process have been patented for long enough that the patent is nearly expired. As soon as that happens, the drug company is SOL.
I happen to live within 5 miles of a nuclear power plant and every year we get the "what to do in case of a 'nuclear incident'" pamplet in the mail letting us know just that. Unexpectedly, it is remarkably survivable. In short, if you know what happened early, get the hell out of Dodge...upwind. If you find out later or know traffic will be too heavy to escape, get in your basement, pile a ton of stuff up in a corner, and get under it. The radiation won't go through that much material. You only really need to be down there for a few days. By then, the radioactive material will have settled. That's when you get the hell out of Dodge.
In every case, however, you're told to take an iodine tablet or smear some beta-dine on your arm to flood your thyroid with cold iodine. This will prevent the radioactive iodine from the meltdown from accumulating in your thyroid and wrecking all the DNA in the vicinity. It is fantastic to know that soon, there may be another pill you can pop to help with the inevitable radiation you will come in contact with during your escape.
first, how is saving cells with damaged DNA good? the body destroys these cells for a reason. in extreme cases i can see the long term effects trump the short, but it sound like we are just fighting cancer with cancer.
second, death by radiation is the most horrific way to die. you essentially drown in your own blood over a period of days to weeks. now i doubt that the animals being tested on were given such extreme doses, but how can scientific achievement be built on this overtly inhumane treatment of animals.
a civilization can not be built on oppression
As far as the statement saying it shuts down the bodies automatic system of getting rid of cells with bad DNA. That will definitely be of lots of concern. Does it permanently shut it down or just temporarily do this? If its permanent then it will only extend your life for a short while. If its reversible it could extend your life for a long time.
This blog doesn't go into enough detail to really decide if it would be worth the side effects or not.
I would have to do much more investigation into this treatment before I decided weather to take this treatment or not. But I do beleive it is a step in the right direction as long as it is used properly.
The effect will be temporary. It is not a gene therapy and every drug has a half-life. Also, drug treatments of cells only last until your body filters out the drug. I would think of this drug like an antibiotic; you have to take it every so often during exposure to get the job done. That fits with the nature of this drug and its function at least as I understand it. I cannot imagine even in theory, a drug that could do what this article states without being a temporary fix.
BTW, that's a good thing, as you say. I think there is no question here that if the drug were permanent, that'd be BAD.
@Scotch again:
This might give very good information and research fodder to scientists like yours truly (yay), but it would make a lousy cancer treatment drug. The drug appears to be untargetted (if that is a word) so it will also hit the cancer cells. The whole point of chemo-therapy is to convince the cells to kill themselves and/or the body to kill them. Taking this drug during Chemo might just protect the cancerous cells from apoptosis... and in the words of Egon, "That would be bad."
BTW, congratulations on surviving cancer (in a sad/blunt few words). God Bless the rest of your health.
See the following link for a description of apoptosis: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=860#more-860
visit infowars : )and look some of this stuff up