Israeli Firm Develops Power New Treatment for Radiation Exposure Based on Placental Cells
I have written a lot of blog posts about the possibility of future nuclear accidents and deliberate nuclear attacks. One the big reasons for my obsession with nuclear security is that fact that it is very difficult to deal with the biological damage of ionizing radiation. Treatment options for victims exposed to radiation have just improved with the arrival of a new therapy by Israeli researchers. Pluristem Therapeutics in Haifa, Israel has just announced that they have developed a new treatment for victims of extreme radiation exposure. The treatments consists of an injection of placental cells. They claim that they can cure patients with multiple organ failure caused by very high levels of radiation exposure. They were licensed to develop a commercial radiation treatment in 2007.
First, placentas are donated by women who have had C-sections to deliver babies. The cells in the placentas are collected and then processed to create a mixture of therapeutic proteins. These proteins can repair radiation-induced damage to lungs, skin, bone marrow and the gastrointestinal tract. The mixture is injected into muscle tissue which helps its absorption by bone marrow. The treatment can reverse damage caused by radiation that would normally kill seventy percent of exposure victims. The company has been researching the therapeutic effects of placental cells for a decade and found that they are especially effective in repairing radiation damage.
The therapy has been tested in clinical trials in Israel at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. It has also been tested in the United States by the National Institute of Health. Recovery rates of animals exposed to radiation has been almost one hundred percent. Best results have been achieved if the placental cells are injected within forty eight hours of exposure to lethal radiation. When the treatment enters the market, it will be cheap, easy to use and widely available. Unlike the only other bone marrow transplant available, the new Israeli therapy does not require expensive and time consuming DNA matching.
Israel is very concerned about a possible nuclear threat from Pakistan which currently has nuclear weapons. They are also worried about Iran developing nuclear weapons. Terrorist organizations such as ISIS in the region which are hostile to Israel have been trying to obtain nuclear materials to create dirty bombs for years. The new therapy could save many Israeli citizens in case of a nuclear attack.
Pluristem has formed a partnership with the Fukushima Medical University in Japan to test its therapy for radiation treatment. The Japanese want to have the therapy available to treat possible radiation exposure in workers cleaning up the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The company has been asked to join the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease program. The U.S. authorities want to have large quantities of the placental cell treatment on hand to cope with serious nuclear accidents or terrorist attacks in the U.S.
With the global proliferation of nuclear weapons, the theft and smuggling of nuclear materials, the increasing threat of nuclear terrorist attacks and the rising tension between states with nuclear weapons, the development of a cheap, powerful broad spectrum treatment for serious injury caused by radiation damage is certainly welcome!
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