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Radiation therapy for cancer also damages healthy tissue — particularly in the hematopoietic system and the gut — by inducing apoptosis (“suicide”) of healthy cells. Using knowledge of the chemical signals that induce apoptosis and those that allay it, a research team identified a molecule — called CBLB502 — that might prevent apoptosis in gut cells if given just before radiation treatments.
In rhesus monkeys, pretreatment with CBLB502 before total-body irradiation reduced the 40-day mortality rate from 75% to about 35%, and protected against hematopoietic damage as well as gut damage. In rats with cancer, treatment did not lower the radiosensitivity of tumors. The 20-day mortality rate after typically lethal irradiation was 0% in the treate…