Posted on 03/08/2017 7:07:58 PM PST by BenLurkin
Humanity is planning its forays out to reach Mars over the next few decades. Such trips would have to traverse an average 140 million miles of vacuum, and take about three years, roundtrip. But the health effects of space are only becoming better understood now.
Cancer risks could be seriously increased by the exposure to radiation out in the void, according to a new study published in the journal Leukemia.
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers found a double-whammy effect: the radiation not only caused mutations in key cells, but also weakened immune response – meaning the body would not be able to rid itself of the malignant cells.
“Our results are troubling because they show radiation exposure could potentially increase the risk of leukemia in two ways,” said Christopher Porada, associate professor of regenerative medicine, and the senior Wake Forest researcher.
The human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from healthy people of astronaut age were exposed to solar energetic particles and galactic cosmic ray radiation. The HSCs were placed in both in vitro and in vivo (mouse) models. The experiments were conducted at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
The cells and mice were then shipped to Wake Forest for assessing the damage done.
The HSCs are a small minority of bone marrow cells (less than 0.1 percent), but they are a vital link in making cells crucial to fighting infections and transporting oxygen, the Wake Forest team explains.
The radiation essentially shut them down, reducing their ability to produce blood cells by as much as 80 percent.
The mice developed what the scientists believe to be T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, they report.
(Excerpt) Read more at laboratoryequipment.com ...
“double-whammy”. I love the term double-whammy.
Don’t hear it too much anymore.
Thanks for posting this. I know a lot about bone narrow regeneration.
In other news farting in church is frowned upon. No rewards without risk.
I went to the dentist the other day, and it was time for X-rays. They draped a heavy apron over my torso and went at it.
I don’t know how much shielding is needed to protect astronauts, but could a similar suit be worn? It would cost a bit to thrust it into orbit, but once weightless, wouldn’t impede the astronauts’ movement during the trip.
Or, is the problem energetic cosmic rays which simple measures won’t stop?
Future deep space missions to Mars and near-Earth asteroids will expose astronauts to chronic solar energetic particles (SEP) and galactic cosmic ray (GCR) radiation, and likely one or more solar particle events (SPEs). Given the inherent radiosensitivity of hematopoietic cells and short latency period of leukemias, space radiation-induced hematopoietic damage poses a particular threat to astronauts on extended missions. We show that exposing human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSC) to extended mission-relevant doses of accelerated high-energy protons and iron ions leads to the following: (1) introduces mutations that are frequently located within genes involved in hematopoiesis and are distinct from those induced by γ-radiation; (2) markedly reduces in vitro colony formation; (3) markedly alters engraftment and lineage commitment in vivo; and (4) leads to the development, in vivo, of what appears to be T-ALL. Sequential exposure to protons and iron ions (as typically occurs in deep space) proved far more deleterious to HSC genome integrity and function than either particle species alone. Our results represent a critical step for more accurately estimating risks to the human hematopoietic system from space radiation, identifying and better defining molecular mechanisms by which space radiation impairs hematopoiesis and induces leukemogenesis, as well as for developing appropriately targeted countermeasures.
www.nature.com/leu/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/leu2016344a.html
Lead shields
or
robots
Doesn’t jibe with evidence from experience. But worth looking into.
Wow, one cosmonaut has almost two years’ cumulative time in space- that’s bizarre to imagine.
I wonder why my Oncologist never asked me if I was an Astronaut when he Diagnosed my Leukemia.
Thanks!
The ISS is in low earth orbit and is shielded from much of the radiation in deep space.
The Earth’s magnetosphere deflects a great deal of solar and cosmic radiation, which is why ISS astronauts are not exposed to the radiation levels deep space astronauts would be.
And therein lies a potential solution...a spacecraft that generates it’s own magnetosphere...
cell and mice experiments, doses and small effects, unfalsifiable and irreproducible extrapolation to humans + wild media claims and grand press release = junk science.
Typical of the hysterical radiophobic propaganda long ago debunked by real life (see Ramsar, Tapei cobalt buildings, guarapari beaches, etc, etc).
The earth magnetosphere protects the earth atmosphere from being ripping off by cosmic rays. Any other direct biological benefits it may have are speculative.
bft
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