[tt] [x-risk] 5000x more effective anti-radiation prophylaxis

Fri Feb 8 15:44:02 UTC 2008

----- Forwarded message from "Hughes, James J." <James.Hughes at trincoll.edu> -----

From: "Hughes, James J." <James.Hughes at trincoll.edu>
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2008 10:16:33 -0500
To: For discussion of existential risks <existential at transhumanism.org>
Subject: [x-risk] 5000x more effective anti-radiation prophylaxis
Reply-To: For discussion of existential risks <existential at transhumanism.org>

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/5490322.html

Jan. 27, 2008, 11:20PM

Scientists aglow over drug for radiation poisoning

By ERIC BERGER

Rice University's Jim Tour and his colleagues at two Houston health
institutions have found a drug that, when given to mice before radiation
exposure, is 5,000 times more effective than the best-available therapy
for radiation injuries.

Officials at the Department of Defense, seeking remedies for the
radiation sickness that would follow a nuclear strike, were so taken by
the research that they recently gave Tour a $540,000 grant and asked him
to compress the next phase of testing into an almost unheard-of nine
months.

In that time, Tour's research group hopes to improve the drug so it
works as well when given after radiation exposure as it does before.

"They originally asked for something in six months, but I told them that
was impossible," said Tour, a chemist who directs Rice's Carbon
Nanotechnology Laboratory.

Radiation disrupts cells by freeing molecules from their chemical bonds
and allowing them to run amok inside the nucleus.

These so-called free radicals can destroy a cell's DNA, killing the cell
or preventing it from dividing. The result can be a slow death of the
victim as organs fail.

To address the problem, Tour and his partners at two University of Texas
institutions - the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Health Science
Center - have created a drug that's deceptively simple.

Just like Wonder Bread
They started with two common food preservatives - the same stuff, BHA
and BHT, that keeps Wonder Bread fresh for weeks - as a means to carry
away free radicals before they can cause harm.

But for the food preservatives to become effective, the scientists
needed a way to get them inside cells.

That's where carbon nanotubes, single layers of carbon atoms curved into
tiny cylinders, came in handy. The research team attached the food
preservatives to the nanotubes, which, because of their size, provided a
perfect vehicle for traversing the body's arteries and entering cells.

Tour said he began his research with the goal of finding a drug to
protect astronauts on long-duration space missions from the radiation to
which they are exposed outside Earth's atmosphere.

But the test results in mice, which were given the drug 30 minutes
before a blast of radiation, were so impressive that Tour thought the
drug might have much broader potential.

A long search
Tour - who serves on the Department of Defense's Science Board, a
technical advisory group for the Pentagon - was put in contact with top
officials at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which funds
proposals that promise high rewards but often have little chance of
success.

Results in mice don't always translate into results in humans, or
course. And DARPA wants a drug that can be effective even if given 12
hours after exposure to radiation.

Need for such a drug is great, said Robert Emery, a radiation safety
expert at the UT Health Science Center.

About half the deaths from a large nuclear blast would result from the
initial explosion. Radiation medication, he said, would benefit the
remaining victims in a fallout zone and could prove invaluable to first
responders.

Such a drug, experts note, could also help cancer patients recover from
radiation therapy.

But, as is true with many new technologies, an anti-radiation drug could
have a potential offensive use. Foreign forces, for instance, could set
off a nuclear detonation, then take the drug to protect themselves
before invading.

Until now, the search for drugs to treat radiation sickness has been so
fruitless that it seemed plausible a cure might elude physicians in the
day of fictional Star Trek Capt. James T. Kirk.

After World War II, scientists tested thousands of chemicals at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center for potential use in radiation therapy, said
Dr. Luka Milas, an M.D. Anderson professor of experimental radiology who
has worked for decades on the problem of curbing radiation sickness.
Only one drug - WR-2721, or amifostine - showed any promise.

Now, Milas, who is working with Tour, has helped discover the drug that
is 5,000 times more effective in mice.

"It's incredibly exciting," he said of the latest research. "If we
succeed, there is such a huge reward. There are so many potentially
positive ramifications of this work."

Milas' group has ideas for taking a drug that worked in mice before
radiation exposure and turning it into something that's effective after
an event. His lab plans to add other chemicals to the carbon nanotubes
that will, in addition to scrubbing up free radicals, speed cellular
repair and stimulate the growth of new, healthy cells.

More work to be done
Already the work is showing promise. At the UT Health Science Center,
scientist Jay Conyers has tested newer versions of the original drug and
has had some success in treating zebra fish 30 minutes after exposure to
high doses of radiation.

Still, Tour said, a viable radiation drug for humans remains "very, very
far" away.

The research team must find a drug that's effective post-exposure in
mammals larger than mice. Typically, such a drug would take 12 to 14
years of development before coming to market at a cost of $1 billion or
so.

Tour conceded, however, that there are special circumstances surrounding
the radiation drug that could accelerate its development.

"There is no alternative therapy, and the poor soul so exposed has no
hope other than petitions to God," Tour said.

"And that's what drives me," he said, "the hope of saving 1 million
people."

eric.berger at chron.com

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