scholarly journals Ramipril reduces incidence and prolongates latency time of radiation-induced rat myelopathy after photon and carbon ion irradiation

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 791-798
Author(s):  
Maria Saager ◽  
Eric W Hahn ◽  
Peter Peschke ◽  
Stephan Brons ◽  
Peter E Huber ◽  
...  

Abstract To test the hypothesis that the use of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) during radiotherapy may be ameliorative for treatment-related normal tissue damage, a pilot study was conducted with the clinically approved (ACE) inhibitor ramipril on the outcome of radiation-induced myelopathy in the rat cervical spinal cord model. Female Sprague Dawley rats were irradiated with single doses of either carbon ions (LET 45 keV/μm) at the center of a 6 cm spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) or 6 MeV photons. The rats were randomly distributed into 4 experimental arms: (i) photons; (ii) photons + ramipril; (iii) carbon ions and (iv) carbon ions + ramipril. Ramipril administration (2 mg/kg/day) started directly after irradiation and was maintained during the entire follow-up. Complete dose-response curves were generated for the biological endpoint radiation-induced myelopathy (paresis grade II) within an observation time of 300 days. Administration of ramipril reduced the rate of paralysis at high dose levels for photons and for the first time a similar finding for high-LET particles was demonstrated, which indicates that the effect of ramipril is independent from radiation quality. The reduced rate of myelopathy is accompanied by a general prolongation of latency time for photons and for carbon ions. Although the already clinical approved drug ramipril can be considered as a mitigator of radiation-induced normal tissue toxicity in the central nervous system, further examinations of the underlying pathological mechanisms leading to radiation-induced myelopathy are necessary to increase and sustain its mitigative effectiveness.

Author(s):  
Abdullah Muhammad Zakaria ◽  
Nicholas W. Colangelo ◽  
Jintana Meesungnoen ◽  
Jean-Paul Jay-Gerin

Large doses of ionizing radiation delivered to tumors at ultra-high dose rates (i.e., in a few milliseconds) paradoxically spare the surrounding healthy tissue while preserving anti-tumor activity (compared to conventional radiotherapy delivered at much lower dose rates). This new modality is known as “FLASH radiotherapy” (FLASH-RT). Although the molecular mechanisms underlying FLASH-RT are not yet fully understood, it has been suggested that radiation delivered at high dose rates spares normal tissue via oxygen depletion followed by subsequent radioresistance of the irradiated tissue. To date, FLASH-RT has been studied using electrons, photons and protons in various basic biological experiments, pre-clinical studies, and recently in a human patient. However, the efficacy of heavy ions, such as swift carbon ions, under FLASH conditions remains unclear. Given that living cells and tissues consist mainly of water, we set out to study, from a pure radiation chemistry perspective, the effects of ultra-high dose rates on the transient yields and concentrations of radiolytic species formed in water irradiated by 300-MeV per nucleon carbon ions (LET ~ 11.6 keV/μm). This mimics irradiation in the “plateau” region of the depth-dose distribution of ions, i.e., in the “normal” tissue region in which the LET is rather low. We used Monte Carlo simulations of multiple, simultaneously interacting radiation tracks together with an “instantaneous pulse” irradiation model. Our calculations show a pronounced oxygen depletion around 0.2 μs, strongly suggesting, as with electrons, photons and protons, that irradiation with energetic carbon ions at ultra-high dose rates is suitable for FLASH-RT.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Welzel ◽  
Alina Leandra Bendinger ◽  
Christin Glowa ◽  
Inna Babushkina ◽  
Manfred Jugold ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Radiation-induced myelopathy is a severe and irreversible complication that occurs after a long symptom-free latency time if the spinal cord was exposed to a significant irradiation dose during tumor treatment. As carbon ions are increasingly investigated for tumor treatment in clinical trials, their effect on normal tissue needs further investigation to assure safety of patient treatments. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-visible morphological alterations could serve as predictive markers for medicinal interventions to avoid severe side effects. Thus, MRI-visible morphological alterations in the rat spinal cord after high dose photon and carbon ion irradiation and their latency times were investigated.MethodsRats whose spinal cords were irradiated with iso-effective high photon (n = 8) or carbon ion (n = 8) doses as well as sham-treated control animals (n=6) underwent frequent MRI measurements until they developed radiation-induced myelopathy (paresis II). MR images were analyzed for morphological alterations and animals were regularly tested for neurological deficits. In addition, histological analysis was performed of animals suffering from paresis II compared to controls.ResultsFor both beam modalities, first morphological alterations occurred outside the spinal cord (bone marrow conversion, contrast agent accumulation in the musculature ventral and dorsal to the spinal cord) followed by morphological alterations inside the spinal cord (edema, syrinx, contrast agent accumulation) and eventually neurological alterations (paresis I and II). Latency times were significantly shorter after carbon ions as compared to photon irradiation.Conclusions Irradiation of the rat spinal cord with photon or carbon ion doses that lead to 100% myelopathy induced a comparable fixed sequence of MRI-visible morphological alterations and neurological distortions. However, at least in the animal model used in this study, the observed MRI-visible morphological alterations in the spinal cord are not suited as predictive markers to identify animals that will develop myelopathy as the time between MRI-visible alterations and the occurrence of myelopathy is too short to intervene with protective or mitigative drugs.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Nowrouzi ◽  
Mathieu G. Sertorio ◽  
Mahdi Akbarpour ◽  
Maximillian Knoll ◽  
Damir Krunic ◽  
...  

Radiation-induced normal tissue toxicity often limits the curative treatment of cancer. Moreover, normal tissue relative biological effectiveness data for high-linear energy transfer particles are urgently needed. We propose a strategy based on transcriptome analysis of patient-derived human intestinal organoids (HIO) to determine molecular surrogates for radioresponse of gastrointestinal (GI) organs at risk in a personalized manner. HIO were generated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which were derived from skin biopsies of three patients, including two patients with FANCA deficiency as a paradigm for enhanced radiosensitivity. For the two Fanconi anemia (FA) patients (HIO-104 and 106, previously published as FA-A#1 IND-iPS1 and FA-A#2 IND-iPS3), FANCA expression was reconstituted as a prerequisite for generation of HIO via lentiviral expression of a doxycycline inducible construct. For radiosensitivity analysis, FANCA deficient and FANCA rescued as well as wtHIO were sham treated or irradiated with 4Gy photon, proton or carbon ions at HIT, respectively. Immunofluorescence staining of HIO for 53BP1-foci was performed 1 h post IR and gene expression analyses was performed 12 and 48 h post IR. 53BP1-foci numbers and size correlated with the higher RBE of carbon ions. A FANCA dependent differential gene expression in response to radiation was found (p < 0.01, ANOVA; n = 1071 12 h; n = 1100 48 h). Pathways associated with FA and DNA-damage repair i.e., transcriptional coupled nucleotide excision repair, homology-directed repair and translational synthesis were found to be differentially regulated in FANCA deficient HIO. Next, differential regulated genes were investigated as a function of radiation quality (RQ, p < 0.05, ANOVA; n = 742 12 h; n = 553 48 h). Interestingly, a gradual increase or decrease of gene expression was found to correlate with the three main qualities, from photon to proton and carbon irradiation. Clustering separated high-linear energy transfer irradiation with carbons from proton and photon irradiation. Genes associated with dual incision steps of TC-NER were differentially regulated in photon vs. proton and carbon irradiation. Consequently, SUMO3, ALC1, POLE4, PCBP4, MUTYH expression correlated with the higher RBE of carbon ions. An interaction between the two studied parameters FA and RQ was identified (p < 0.01, 2-way ANOVA n = 476). A comparison of genes regulated as a function of FA, RQ and RBE suggest a role for p53 interacting genes BRD7, EWSR1, FBXO11, FBXW8, HMGB1, MAGED2, PCBP4, and RPS27 as modulators of FA in response to radiation. This proof of concept study demonstrates that patient tailored evaluation of GI response to radiation is feasible via generation of HIO and comparative transcriptome profiling. This methodology can now be further explored for a personalized assessment of GI radiosensitivity and RBE estimation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Welzel ◽  
Alina L. Bendinger ◽  
Christin Glowa ◽  
Inna Babushkina ◽  
Manfred Jugold ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Radiation-induced myelopathy is a severe and irreversible complication that occurs after a long symptom-free latency time if the spinal cord was exposed to a significant irradiation dose during tumor treatment. As carbon ions are increasingly investigated for tumor treatment in clinical trials, their effect on normal tissue needs further investigation to assure safety of patient treatments. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-visible morphological alterations could serve as predictive markers for medicinal interventions to avoid severe side effects. Thus, MRI-visible morphological alterations in the rat spinal cord after high dose photon and carbon ion irradiation and their latency times were investigated. Methods Rats whose spinal cords were irradiated with iso-effective high photon (n = 8) or carbon ion (n = 8) doses as well as sham-treated control animals (n = 6) underwent frequent MRI measurements until they developed radiation-induced myelopathy (paresis II). MR images were analyzed for morphological alterations and animals were regularly tested for neurological deficits. In addition, histological analysis was performed of animals suffering from paresis II compared to controls. Results For both beam modalities, first morphological alterations occurred outside the spinal cord (bone marrow conversion, contrast agent accumulation in the musculature ventral and dorsal to the spinal cord) followed by morphological alterations inside the spinal cord (edema, syrinx, contrast agent accumulation) and eventually neurological alterations (paresis I and II). Latency times were significantly shorter after carbon ions as compared to photon irradiation. Conclusions Irradiation of the rat spinal cord with photon or carbon ion doses that lead to 100% myelopathy induced a comparable fixed sequence of MRI-visible morphological alterations and neurological distortions. However, at least in the animal model used in this study, the observed MRI-visible morphological alterations in the spinal cord are not suited as predictive markers to identify animals that will develop myelopathy as the time between MRI-visible alterations and the occurrence of myelopathy is too short to intervene with protective or mitigative drugs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lalitha Sarad Yamini Nanduri ◽  
Phaneendra K. Duddempudi ◽  
Weng-Lang Yang ◽  
Radia Tamarat ◽  
Chandan Guha

Normal tissue injury from accidental or therapeutic exposure to high-dose radiation can cause severe acute and delayed toxicities, which result in mortality and chronic morbidity. Exposure to single high-dose radiation leads to a multi-organ failure, known as acute radiation syndrome, which is caused by radiation-induced oxidative stress and DNA damage to tissue stem cells. The radiation exposure results in acute cell loss, cell cycle arrest, senescence, and early damage to bone marrow and intestine with high mortality from sepsis. There is an urgent need for developing medical countermeasures against radiation injury for normal tissue toxicity. In this review, we discuss the potential of applying secretory extracellular vesicles derived from mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, endothelial cells, and macrophages for promoting repair and regeneration of organs after radiation injury.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasaman Alaghband ◽  
Samantha N. Cheeks ◽  
Barrett D. Allen ◽  
Pierre Montay-Gruel ◽  
Ngoc-Lien Doan ◽  
...  

Major advances in high precision treatment delivery and imaging have greatly improved the tolerance of radiotherapy (RT); however, the selective sparing of normal tissue and the reduction of neurocognitive side effects from radiation-induced toxicities remain significant problems for pediatric patients with brain tumors. While the overall survival of pediatric patients afflicted with medulloblastoma (MB), the most common type primary brain cancer in children, remains high (≥80%), lifelong neurotoxic side-effects are commonplace and adversely impact patients’ quality of life. To circumvent these clinical complications, we have investigated the capability of ultra-high dose rate FLASH-radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) to protect the radiosensitive juvenile mouse brain from normal tissue toxicities. Compared to conventional dose rate (CONV) irradiation, FLASH-RT was found to ameliorate radiation-induced cognitive dysfunction in multiple independent behavioral paradigms, preserve developing and mature neurons, minimize microgliosis and limit the reduction of the plasmatic level of growth hormone. The protective “FLASH effect” was pronounced, especially since a similar whole brain dose of 8 Gy delivered with CONV-RT caused marked reductions in multiple indices of behavioral performance (objects in updated location, novel object recognition, fear extinction, light-dark box, social interaction), reductions in the number of immature (doublecortin+) and mature (NeuN+) neurons and increased neuroinflammation, adverse effects that were not found with FLASH-RT. Our data point to a potentially innovative treatment modality that is able to spare, if not prevent, many of the side effects associated with long-term treatment that disrupt the long-term cognitive and emotional well-being of medulloblastoma survivors.


2008 ◽  
Vol 295 (5) ◽  
pp. R1486-R1493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Lahm ◽  
Paul R. Crisostomo ◽  
Troy A. Markel ◽  
Meijing Wang ◽  
Yue Wang ◽  
...  

Both endogenous and exogenous estrogen decrease pulmonary artery (PA) vasoconstriction. Whether these effects are mediated via estrogen receptor (ER)-α or ER-β, and whether the contribution of ERs is stimulus-dependent, remains unknown. We hypothesized that administration of the selective ER-α agonist propylpyrazole triol (PPT) and/or the selective ER-β agonist diarylpropiolnitrile (DPN) rapidly decreases PA vasoconstriction induced by pharmacologic and hypoxic stimuli via a nitric oxide (NO)-dependent mechanism. PA rings ( n = 3–10/group) from adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were suspended in physiologic organ baths. Force displacement was measured. Vasoconstrictor responses to phenylephrine (10−8M − 10−5M) and hypoxia (Po2 35–45 mmHg) were determined. Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasorelaxation were measured by generating dose-response curves to acetylcholine (10−8M − 10−4M) and sodium nitroprusside (10−9M − 10−5M). PPT or DPN (10−9M − 5 × 10−5M) were added to the organ bath in the presence and absence of the NO-synthase inhibitor Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) (10−4M). Selective ER-α activation (PPT, 5 × 10−5M) rapidly (<20 min) decreased phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction. This effect, as well as PPT's effects on endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation, were neutralized by l-NAME. In contrast, selective ER-β activation (DPN, 5 × 10−5M) rapidly decreased phase II of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV). l-NAME eliminated this phenomenon. Lower PPT or DPN concentrations were less effective. We conclude that both ER-α and ER-β decrease PA vasoconstriction. The immediate onset of effect suggests a nongenomic mechanism. The contribution of specific ERs appears to be stimulus specific, with ER-α primarily modulating phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction, and ER-β inhibiting HPV. NO inhibition eliminates these effects, suggesting a central role for NO in mediating the pulmonary vascular effects of both ER-α and ER-β.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 855
Author(s):  
Paola Serrano Martinez ◽  
Lorena Giuranno ◽  
Marc Vooijs ◽  
Robert P. Coppes

Radiotherapy is involved in the treatment of many cancers, but damage induced to the surrounding normal tissue is often inevitable. Evidence suggests that the maintenance of homeostasis and regeneration of the normal tissue is driven by specific adult tissue stem/progenitor cells. These tasks involve the input from several signaling pathways. Irradiation also targets these stem/progenitor cells, triggering a cellular response aimed at achieving tissue regeneration. Here we discuss the currently used in vitro and in vivo models and the involved specific tissue stem/progenitor cell signaling pathways to study the response to irradiation. The combination of the use of complex in vitro models that offer high in vivo resemblance and lineage tracing models, which address organ complexity constitute potential tools for the study of the stem/progenitor cellular response post-irradiation. The Notch, Wnt, Hippo, Hedgehog, and autophagy signaling pathways have been found as crucial for driving stem/progenitor radiation-induced tissue regeneration. We review how these signaling pathways drive the response of solid tissue-specific stem/progenitor cells to radiotherapy and the used models to address this.


2010 ◽  
Vol 298 (1) ◽  
pp. F177-F186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne D. M. Riquier-Brison ◽  
Patrick K. K. Leong ◽  
Kaarina Pihakaski-Maunsbach ◽  
Alicia A. McDonough

Angiotensin II (ANG II) stimulates proximal tubule (PT) sodium and water reabsorption. We showed that treating rats acutely with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril decreases PT salt and water reabsorption and provokes rapid redistribution of the Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 3 (NHE3), Na+/Pi cotransporter 2 (NaPi2), and associated proteins out of the microvilli. The aim of the present study was to determine whether acute ANG II infusion increases the abundance of PT NHE3, NaPi2, and associated proteins in the microvilli available for reabsorbing NaCl. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were infused with a dose of captopril (12 μg/min for 20 min) that increased PT flow rate ∼20% with no change in blood pressure (BP) or glomerular filtration rate (GFR). When ANG II (20 ng·kg−1·min−1 for 20 min) was added to the captopril infusate, PT volume flow rate returned to baseline without changing BP or GFR. After captopril, NHE3 was localized to the base of the microvilli and NaPi2 to subapical cytoplasmic vesicles; after 20 min ANG II, both NHE3 and NaPi2 redistributed into the microvilli, assayed by confocal microscopy and density gradient fractionation. Additional PT proteins that redistributed into low-density microvilli-enriched membranes in response to ANG II included myosin VI, DPPIV, NHERF-1, ezrin, megalin, vacuolar H+-ATPase, aminopeptidase N, and clathrin. In summary, in response to 20 min ANG II in the absence of a change in BP or GFR, multiple proteins traffic into the PT brush-border microvilli where they likely contribute to the rapid increase in PT salt and water reabsorption.


2021 ◽  
pp. 019262332110104
Author(s):  
Marjolein van Heerden ◽  
Wendy Roosen ◽  
Sophie Lachau-Durand ◽  
Graham Bailey ◽  
Anthony Ndifor

Fetal examinations in embryo-fetal developmental (EFD) studies are based on macroscopic and dissecting microscopic evaluations, and histopathology is rarely performed other than to confirm macroscopic findings. Fetal lens examination is therefore generally limited to the presence, size, shape, and color of any abnormality. In a Sprague-Dawley rat EFD study with the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor JNJ-42165279, an unusually high incidence of macroscopic granular foci was noted within the lens of gestation day 21 fetuses across all groups including controls, with higher incidence in the high-dose group. On histological evaluation of the lenses from fetuses with/without gross findings, primary lens fiber hypertrophy (swelling) and degeneration were observed across vehicle- and JNJ-42165279-exposed fetuses. In a follow-up study to investigate the progression or resolution of the fetal lens changes, animals exposed to suprapharmacological doses of JNJ-42165279 in utero had higher incidence of nuclear cataracts as detected via slit-lamp ophthalmic examinations on postnatal days 18 to 21 and 35 to 41. No histologic correlates for these cataracts were identified. We conclude that fetal primary lens fiber hypertrophy and nuclear cataracts at ophthalmology, are common background changes in this rat strain that are exacerbated by in utero exposure to the FAAH inhibitor JNJ-42165279.


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