Potential to effectively maintain digestive function, treating gastro-intestinal damage from acute radiation exposure

Radiation sickness, or acute radiation syndrome (ARS), is a serious illness that occurs after individuals have been exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation already for a short period of time. A nuclear disaster, accident near a nuclear power plant, or act of terrorism such as a “dirty bomb“ can be primary causes.

The detrimental impact of ionizing radiation is wide-ranging and encompasses both whole body and organ-specific damage. ARS typically includes a range of physical signs and symptoms that reflect severe damage to specific parts of the body, including the bone marrow and blood (H-ARS), the gastrointestinal tract (GI-ARS), the neurovascular systems (NV-ARS), and the skin (C-ARS).

ARS represents an attractive, sizeable, but highly underserved market. Despite the continuous threat of nuclear warfare as well as civilian nuclear incidents, options for medical countermeasures (MCMs) are virtually non-existent. Traumatic damage to the gastro-intestinal tract is not addressed by available treatments of acute radiation syndrome (ARS), which focus on hematopoietic effects. US and EU strategic national stockpile programs hence have urgent unmet need to source new effective MCMs.

Our research suggests sPIF has potential to improve gastro-intestinal architecture in radiated mice. Data illustrates sPIF treatment significantly improves survival of radiated animals.