The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Finding drugs for radiation injuries

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Monday, Nov 27, 2006
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Finding drugs for radiation injuries

C. Maya

Expert from the U.S. hopes for collaborative research with institutions here

Terry C. Pellmar

Thiruvananthapuram: At a time when nations are investing much on acquiring nuclear power status, preparedness to meet a possible scenario of an industrial radiation accident or a nuclear attack by terrorists is of utmost importance, says Terry C. Pellmar, Scientific Director of Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI), a division of the U.S Department of Defence.

Dr. Pellmar, who is here to participate in the 27th annual conference of the Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists, was talking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the conference on Sunday. The event has been organised by the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute here.

She said that at least the U.S. Government believed that it was a matter of when, and not if, such an attack or accident took place. And this was not a perception that had emerged in the post-9/11 scenario. The AFRRI, since its inception in the 1960s, had been concerned about the consequences of a major nuclear accident, and much of its research focussed on developing drugs to treat radiation injuries that resulted from a large-scale exposure to radiation.

Dr. Pellmar said that she was elated at the possibilities of doing collaborative research in herbal medicines with scientific institutions here, so that non-toxic drugs to heal radiation injuries could be developed.

"At our institute, we are currently investigating the possibilities of developing a drug from genistein, an isoflavone from soybeans. It was found that the drug had very little toxicity when injected subcutaneously in mice, before and after exposure to lethal doses of radiation. Oral administration of genistein also gave good results for radiation protection, with increased survival rates in mice."

"Our focus is on developing drugs for protection during large-scale exposure to radiation, but it is possible that genistein can be made available for cancer patients also to heal radiation side effects," Dr. Pellmar said.

Radiation biology deals with the effect of ionising radiation on cells and the biological responses. In the clinical set-up, cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy get exposed to focussed radiation on a particular body part. The dosage is given in fractions, over a period of several weeks.

However, the scene is entirely different when it comes to an industrial nuclear radiation exposure or a terrorist attack, when exposure of whole body to high doses of radiation can result in acute radiation syndrome. Without treatment, there could be a large number of deaths.

"In such eventualities, we need therapeutic agents for post-radiation exposure, which can be administered to a large population readily."

"We are also looking at the biodosimetry of radiation (dose assessment) so that we can develop biomarkers to determine how much radiation an individual has been exposed to. This well help us identify persons who needs more serious and immediate medical attention," she says.

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