Radiation vaccination

[mr friendly guy]

Does this remind anyone else of the EMH from Voyager?

Radiation vaccination may be possible, say scientists

Last Update: Sunday, June 4, 2006. 3:37pm (AEST)

Scientists in the United States say it may soon be possible to vaccinate emergency workers against the effects of a nuclear explosion.

The researchers have found that a form of gene therapy appears to protect mice from the effects of exposure to radiation.

Ever since the September 11 attacks on the United States, there have been growing concerns that terrorists may attempt to explode a crude nuclear device, called a "dirty bomb".

Experts say that such a bomb, made up of nuclear waste wrapped around a conventional explosive, could disperse large amounts of radiation over a city area and that significant numbers of people would die within 30 says of exposure.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have been trying to develop a treatment that would protect emergency workers and others who respond to the scene of such an explosion.

In experiments with mice they used a tiny artificial sac to deliver a protective compound to every cell.

Twenty-four hours later the mice were exposed to doses of whole body radiation.

Those that had been given the gene therapy survived.

-BBC

[Bounty]

ZOMg Star Trek predicts teh future !!

*ahem*

That is quite fascinating, but I wonder if they survive it *intact*. The article doesn't state if the mice suffered from other radiation effects, just that they were alive.

[Spin Echo]

ZOMg Star Trek predicts teh future !!

*ahem*

That is quite fascinating, but I wonder if they survive it *intact*. The article doesn't state if the mice suffered from other radiation effects, just that they were alive.

I wonder what sort of radiation the mice were exposed to. I expect that the gene therapy just protects against the genetic damage. Radiation burns come from the fact energy is dissipating in the body. I have a hard time imagining gene therapy protecting against that unless you're creating some sort of supermouse.

[Admiral Valdemar]

This is not so much a vaccine, but gene therapy at work. It's subtle difference, but real.

[Winston Blake]

My guess is that it doesn't actually stop radiation damage itself, but simply saturates glands (or whatever) to prevent the body concentrating radioisotopes, just like how anti-radiation iodine tablets work. The revolutionary bit would be that it's done with gene therapy, perhaps allowing a permanent change to some of the processes that normally cause radioisotope buildup. The only reason it can be considered a 'vaccine' is probably because the gene therapy involves introducing a virus as a vector i.e. it's not like real vaccination.

Even before this, the Trek radiation-inoculation could be rationalised by considering 'inoculation' to be a commonly-used term for conventional anti-radiation medication, offering limited protection when the amount of exposure can be anticipated.

[drachefly]

Most damage from radiation is not direct hits to the genetic material, but rather from the free radicals that a charged particle creates as it zooms through the cell.

Perhaps this system greatly enhances our free radical-scavenging capability. In that case, it would be effective against all forms of radiation. There would be limits.