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Huff JL, Poignant F, Rahmanian S, Khan N, Blakely EA, Britten RA, Chang P, Fornace AJ, Hada M, Kronenberg A, Norman RB, Patel ZS, Shay JW, Weil MM, Simonsen LC, Slaba TC. Galactic cosmic ray simulation at the NASA space radiation laboratory - Progress, challenges and recommendations on mixed-field effects. LIFE SCIENCES IN SPACE RESEARCH 2023; 36:90-104. [PMID: 36682835 DOI: 10.1016/j.lssr.2022.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2022] [Revised: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
For missions beyond low Earth orbit to the moon or Mars, space explorers will encounter a complex radiation field composed of various ion species with a broad range of energies. Such missions pose significant radiation protection challenges that need to be solved in order to minimize exposures and associated health risks. An innovative galactic cosmic ray simulator (GCRsim) was recently developed at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The GCRsim technology is intended to represent major components of the space radiation environment in a ground analog laboratory setting where it can be used to improve understanding of biological risks and serve as a testbed for countermeasure development and validation. The current GCRsim consists of 33 energetic ion beams that collectively simulate the primary and secondary GCR field encountered by humans in space over the broad range of particle types, energies, and linear energy transfer (LET) of interest to health effects. A virtual workshop was held in December 2020 to assess the status of the NASA baseline GCRsim. Workshop attendees examined various aspects of simulator design, with a particular emphasis on beam selection strategies. Experimental results, modeling approaches, areas of consensus, and questions of concern were also discussed in detail. This report includes a summary of the GCRsim workshop and a description of the current status of the GCRsim. This information is important for future advancements and applications in space radiobiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janice L Huff
- NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, 23681, United States of America.
| | - Floriane Poignant
- National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, VA, 23666, United States of America
| | - Shirin Rahmanian
- National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, VA, 23666, United States of America
| | - Nafisah Khan
- National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, VA, 23666, United States of America
| | - Eleanor A Blakely
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States of America
| | - Richard A Britten
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Leroy T Canoles Jr. Cancer Center, School of Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, 23507, United States of America
| | - Polly Chang
- SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, United States of America
| | - Albert J Fornace
- Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, United States of America
| | - Megumi Hada
- Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX, 77446, United States of America
| | - Amy Kronenberg
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States of America
| | - Ryan B Norman
- NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, 23681, United States of America
| | - Zarana S Patel
- KBR Inc., Houston, TX, 77058, United States of America; NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 77058, United States of America
| | - Jerry W Shay
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 75390, United States of America
| | - Michael M Weil
- Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, United States of America
| | - Lisa C Simonsen
- NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, 20546, United States of America
| | - Tony C Slaba
- NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, 23681, United States of America
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Sihver L, Mortazavi SMJ. Biological Protection in Deep Space Missions. J Biomed Phys Eng 2021; 11:663-674. [PMID: 34904063 PMCID: PMC8649166 DOI: 10.31661/jbpe.v0i0.1193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2019] [Accepted: 07/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
During deep space missions, astronauts are exposed to highly ionizing radiation, incl. neutrons, protons and heavy ions from galactic cosmic rays (GCR), solar wind (SW) and solar energetic particles
(SEP). This increase the risks for cancerogenisis, damages in central nervous system (CNS), cardiovascular diseases, etc. Large SEP events can even cause acute radiation syndrome (ARS).
Long term manned deep space missions will therefor require unique radiation protection strategies. Since it has been shown that physical shielding alone is not sufficient, this paper
propose pre-flight screening of the aspirants for evaluation of their level of adaptive responses. Methods for boosting their immune system, should also be further investigated,
and the possibility of using radiation effect modulators are discussed. In this paper, especially, the use of vitamin C as a promising non-toxic, cost-effective, easily available
radiation mitigator (which can be used hours after irradiation), is described. Although it has previously been shown that vitamin C can decrease radiation-induced chromosomal damage in rodents,
it must be further investigated before any conclusions about its radiation mitigating properties in humans can be concluded.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lembit Sihver
- PhD, Department of Radiation Physics, Atominstitut, Technische Universität Wien, Stadionallee 2, 1020 Vienna, Austria
- PhD, Department of Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
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Luitel K, Kim SB, Barron S, Richardson JA, Shay JW. Lung cancer progression using fast switching multiple ion beam radiation and countermeasure prevention. LIFE SCIENCES IN SPACE RESEARCH 2020; 24:108-115. [PMID: 31987474 PMCID: PMC6991460 DOI: 10.1016/j.lssr.2019.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2019] [Revised: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 07/31/2019] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Most of the research in understanding space radiation-induced cancer progression and risk assessment has been performed using mono-energetic single-ion beams. However, the space radiation environment consists of a wide variety of ion species with a various range of energies. Using the fast beam switching technology developed at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), ion species can be switched rapidly allowing investigators to use multiple ions with different energies to simulate more closely the radiation environment found in space. Here, we exposed a lung cancer susceptible mouse model (K-rasLA-1) to three sequential ion beams: Proton (H) (120 MeV/n) 20 cGy, Helium (He) (250 MeV/n) 5.0 cGy, and Silicon (Si) (300 MeV/n) 5.0 cGy with a dose rate of 0.5 cGy/min. Using three ion beams we performed whole body irradiation with a total dose of 30 cGy in two different orders: 3B-1 (H→He→Si) and 3B-2 (Si→He→H) and used 30 cGy H single-ion beam as a reference. In this study we show that whole-body irradiation with H→He→Si increases the incidence of premalignant lesions and systemic oxidative stress in mice 100 days post-irradiation more than (Si→He→H) and H only irradiation. Additionally, we observed an increase in adenomas with atypia and adenocarcinomas in H→He→Si irradiated mice but not in (Si→He→H) or H (30 cGy) only irradiated mice. When we used the H→He→Si irradiation sequence but skipped a day before exposing the mice to Si, we did not observe the increased incidence of cancer initiation and progression. We also found that a non-toxic anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative radioprotector (CDDO-EA) reduced H→He→Si induced oxidative stress and cancer initiation almost back to baseline. Thus, exposure to H→He→Si elicits significant changes in lung cancer initiation that can be mitigated using CDDO-EA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krishna Luitel
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Sang Bum Kim
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; Sevrance Biomedical Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, South Korea
| | - Summer Barron
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - James A Richardson
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Jerry W Shay
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
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Luitel K, Bozeman R, Kaisani A, Kim SB, Barron S, Richardson JA, Shay JW. Proton radiation-induced cancer progression. LIFE SCIENCES IN SPACE RESEARCH 2018; 19:31-42. [PMID: 30482279 DOI: 10.1016/j.lssr.2018.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2018] [Revised: 08/15/2018] [Accepted: 08/16/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
There are considerable health risks related to ionizing and proton radiation exposure. While there is a long history of health risks associated with ionizing (photon) radiation exposure, there is a limited understanding of the long-term health risks associated with proton radiation exposure. Since proton radiation is becoming more common in cancer therapy, the long-term biological effects of proton radiation remain less well characterized in terms of radiotherapy and well as for astronauts during deep space explorations. In this study, we compared the long-term side effects of proton radiation to equivalent doses of X-rays in the initiation and progression of premalignant lesions in a lung cancer susceptible mouse model (K-rasLA1). We show proton irradiation causes more complex DNA damage that is not completely repaired resulting in increased oxidative stress in the lungs both acutely and persistently. We further observed K-rasLA1 mice irradiated with protons had an increased number and size of initiated and premalignant lesions and adenomas that were often infiltrated with inflammatory cells. Proton irradiated mice had a lower median survival and increased carcinoma incidence as compared to unirradiated controls and X-rays exposed mice. Our conclusion is that exposure to proton irradiation enhances the progression of premalignant lesions to invasive carcinomas through persistent DNA damage, chronic oxidative stress, and immunosuppression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krishna Luitel
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Ronald Bozeman
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Aadil Kaisani
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Sang Bum Kim
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Summer Barron
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - James A Richardson
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Jerry W Shay
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
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