Reducing Toxicity of Radiation Treatment of Advanced Prostate Cancer.

摘要

Toxicity is a major impediment to effective radiation therapy of locally advanced prostate cancer. Work under this award focuses on the potential of a novel class of pharmacological radiation protectors to reduce normal tissue toxicity of radiation therapy. During the second year of this award we focused on a particular compound (RTA 408) that had emerged as a robust and selective radiation protector of normal tissues. Importantly, this compound also showed anti-tumor activity against four human prostate cancer cell lines grown as xenotransplants in mice. Over the last year we have gained major insights into how this compound is likely to effect radiation protection of normal tissues. This work has centered on effects of the drug on myeloid (bone marrow-derived) cells with cytoprotective properties that are recruited into irradiated tissues. Ongoing work focuses on the characterization of the molecular targets within myeloid cells that contribute to the differential effects of this drug on normal and tumor tissues.