据4月11日的《科学》（Science）杂志报道说，研究人员开发出了一种新药，它可以保护动物的骨髓及胃肠道细胞不受放射疗法的破坏，同时又不会减少放疗对肿瘤细胞的效力。尽管放疗是治疗癌症的一种重要的武器，但人们仍然需要可以限制辐射对健康细胞毁灭性作用的药物以减少放疗可能的严重副作用。
根据Lyudmila Burdelya及其同事披露，将这种叫做CBLB502的新药在小鼠与猴子身上进行测试发现，它是通过激活一种被某种类型癌细胞用来阻止细胞死亡的分子通道来发挥作用的。在辐射治疗前的短时间内，如果动物接受一个单剂量该种药物，可以明显降低辐射对动物骨髓及胃肠道细胞的损伤，并延长动物的存活时间。研究人员说，这种药物可能还可以用作一种在辐射紧急情况下使用的保护剂。例如，该药可用于核电厂故障时的辐射爆炸或用在“脏弹”被引爆的时候。（来源：EurekAlert!中文版）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
（Science），Vol. 320. no. 5873, pp. 226 - 230，Lyudmila G. Burdelya，Andrei V. Gudkov
An Agonist of Toll-Like Receptor 5 Has Radioprotective Activity in Mouse and Primate Models
Lyudmila G. Burdelya,1* Vadim I. Krivokrysenko,2* Thomas C. Tallant,3 Evguenia Strom,2 Anatoly S. Gleiberman,2 Damodar Gupta,1 Oleg V. Kurnasov,4 Farrel L. Fort,2 Andrei L. Osterman,4 Joseph A. DiDonato,3 Elena Feinstein,2 Andrei V. Gudkov1,2
The toxicity of ionizing radiation is associated with massive apoptosis in radiosensitive organs. Here, we investigate whether a drug that activates a signaling mechanism used by tumor cells to suppress apoptosis can protect healthy cells from the harmful effects of radiation. We studied CBLB502, a polypeptide drug derived from Salmonella flagellin that binds to Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) and activates nuclear factor–B signaling. A single injection of CBLB502 before lethal total-body irradiation protected mice from both gastrointestinal and hematopoietic acute radiation syndromes and resulted in improved survival. CBLB502 injected after irradiation also enhanced survival, but at lower radiation doses. It is noteworthy that the drug did not decrease tumor radiosensitivity in mouse models. CBLB502 also showed radioprotective activity in lethally irradiated rhesus monkeys. Thus, TLR5 agonists could potentially improve the therapeutic index of cancer radiotherapy and serve as biological protectants in radiation emergencies.
1 Department of Cell Stress Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA.
2 Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (CBLI), Buffalo, NY14203, USA.
3 Department of Cell Biology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
4 Burnham Institute for Medical Research, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
