Drug repositioning for mitigation of radiation-induced lung injury

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K19866
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Radiation science
• Research Institution: Osaka Medical College
• Principal Investigator: Yoshikawa Nobuhiko 大阪医科大学, 医学部, 非常勤講師 (10719917)
• Research Collaborator: Okada Yoshikatsu ; Nonoguchi Naosuke
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 放射線治療 / 放射線肺障害 / 漢方薬

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We had tried some drugs which may mitigate radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) in mice and determined a Japanese herbal medicine TJ-41 as a potential drug. The irradiated mice with TJ-41 were observed milder RILI than without TJ-41 but not statistically. We analyze the difference of gene expression level between the two groups, however, we couldn’t list up the gene which may contribute to mitigate RILI.
In secondary analysis, we found out two interesting facts. First, animal CT system were very useful for detecting mild RILI without sacrificing mice. So we can reduce the number of mouse in future study. Second, skin fibrosis in the group of irradiation + TJ-41 was milder than that of irradiation only by visual evaluation, and this may indicate TJ-41 has protective effects of other organs.

Free Research Field

放射線治療

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の主目的を達成する既存薬は見い出せなかったが、肺以外の臓器保護効果についても示唆されたため、新たな研究につながる可能性のある結果となった。また動物用CTによる肺障害の経過観察が可能となり、今後実験に用いるマウス数を減らすことができ倫理面でも大きな貢献が期待できる。