Novel Approach to Treating Radiation Toxicity

Radiation toxicity can be caused by war-related events, nuclear facility accidents, or radiation therapy. It produces profound injury to both the hematopoietic system and the gut. Because gut injury allows large numbers of gram-negative bacteria (and the endotoxins they produce) to enter the circulation, multiple organ failure can result.

A team from Harvard Medical School induced radiation injury in mice and then treated them at 24 hours after irradiation with a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, a molecule (called rBPI₂₁) that neutralizes endotoxin, both, or neither. Survival rates at 30 days in animals that were treated with both agents were 65% to 80%, compared with 0% to 25% in animals that received neither agent. Hematopoietic recovery also w…