21ST CENTURY THERAPEUTICS, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: Radiotherapy can potentially inflict serious damage on healthy normal organs. For example,

Description

Radiotherapy can potentially inflict serious damage on healthy normal organs. For example, pneumonitis and fibrosis are two well-recognized adverse effects from lung cancer radiotherapy: Currently, amifostine (Ethyol) is the only approved radioprotector indicated to reduce xerostomia associated with radiotherapy of head-and-neck cancer; there is no data supporting the radioprotection by amifostine. Several clinical studies indicated that TNF-61537; biologics may be effective in treating radiation pneumonitis. However, biologics are inconvenient to administer, and have been reported to be associated with potentially serious side effects. In this proposal, a small-molecule TNF-61537; modulator, UTL-5g, will be investigated for its potential to treat lung injury induced by radiation. The specific aims are: (1) To examine whether tumor cell-killing by irradiation is reduced by UTL-5g in vitro; (2) To show that UTL-5g is effective in reducing lung injury induced by irradiation in a dose-dependent manner in vivo; (3)To show that UTL-5g does not affect tumor cell-killing induced by irradiation in vivo. Successful completion of this study will prove the feasibility of using UTL-5g for treating radiation-induced lung injury. The ultimate goal of this project is to workwith or license to a major pharmaceutical company and develop a significantly improved radioprotector for lung radiotherapy.