辐射防护基因治疗现状与展望

Advancement in radioprotective gene therapy

放射治疗是恶性肿瘤的主要治疗手段之一,超过50％的肿瘤患者在病程的不同阶段都需要接受放疗.尽管影像引导靶向治疗技术不断发展,使患者受到的辐射剂量大大降低,但仍然存在严重的不良反应——正常组织细胞的辐射损伤.为了减少正常组织损伤,研究人员一直在寻找辐射防护的新方法.目前的辐射防护方法多是采用化学合成小分子物质及天然植物提取物作为辐射防护剂使用,但疗效并不十分理想,研究人员迫切想找到一种高效可行的辐射防护新方法.基因治疗以其靶向明确、细胞毒性小、不良反应少等优点在增强细胞和组织相关性能上具有很大优势,使其成为极好的辐射防护新方法.笔者对辐射防护的基因治疗研究及其未来的改进方向做一综述.

Radiation therapy is an important treatment for malignant tumors as more than 50% of patients receive radiation therapy for their illnesses.Patients receiving radiation doses have been significantly reduced because of the advancement in image-guided radiation.However,serious side effects occur owing to the off-target radiation damage to normal tissues.To decrease the level of injury, researchers have explored new radiation protection methods.Currently,agents available for protecting normal tissues against radiation damage mainly include synthesized small molecules and plant extracts with poor results.Researchers have explored new efficient approaches to radiation protection.Several advantages in gene therapy,such as targeting,low toxity,and minimal side effects,render it as an ideal strategy for radiation protection and significantly enhance the biological properties of cells and tissues.Radiation protection gene therapy and its development as a radiation protection strategy are reviewed in this paper.