A Protein Borrowed From Tardigrades Could Give Us Radiation Body Armor

The strangely adorable and resilient tardigrade, or water bear, just might hold the key to making cancer treatment a lot more (water-) bearable. That’s because a team of researchers just found evidence that a protein produced by these microscopic creatures could protect our healthy cells from the ravages of radiation therapy. Scientists at MIT, the University of Iowa, and elsewhere conducted the new study, published this Wednesday in Nature Biomedical Engineering. In experiments with mice, the research team observed that the protein reduced radiation damage in normal cells, while still allowing the radiation therapy to target cancerous cells. The findings could someday lead to an invaluable add-on treatment for many cancer patients, the researchers say. Tardigrades are extremophiles, notorious for their remarkable ability to survive some of the most inhospitable conditions on Earth (and space). One of the conditions the hardy critters evolved to withstand is extreme doses of radiatio ... Read full article.