Document type
Journal articles
Document subtype
Full paper
Title
Radiation as a Tool against Neurodegeneration—A Potential Treatment for Amyloidosis in the Central Nervous System
Participants in the publication
Carina Marques Coelho (Author)
FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA
LABORATÓRIO DE INSTRUMENTAÇÃO E FÍSICA EXPERIMENTAL DE PARTÍCULAS
Lia Pereira (Author)
FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA
LABORATÓRIO DE INSTRUMENTAÇÃO E FÍSICA EXPERIMENTAL DE PARTÍCULAS
Pamela Teubig (Author)
Dep. Física
CFNUL
LIP
Pedro Santos (Author)
Filipa Mendes (Author)
Sílvia Viñals (Co-Supervisor)
Daniel Galaviz (Co-Supervisor)
Dep. Física
Dep. Física
CFNUL
LIP
Federico Herrera (Supervisor)
Dep. Química e Bioquímica
BioISI
Summary
Radiotherapy (RT) is a relatively safe and established treatment for cancer, where the goal is to kill tumoral cells with the lowest toxicity to healthy tissues. Using it for disorders involving cell loss is counterintuitive. However, ionizing radiation has a hormetic nature: it can have deleterious or beneficial effects depending on how it is applied. Current evidence indicates that radiation could be a promising treatment for neurodegenerative disorders involving protein misfolding and amyloidogenesis, such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases. Low-dose RT can trigger antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and tissue regeneration responses. RT has been used to treat peripheral amyloidosis, which is very similar to other neurodegenerative disorders from a molecular perspective. Ionizing radiation prevents amyloid formation and other hallmarks in cell cultures, animal models and pilot clinical trials. Although some hypotheses have been formulated, the mechanism of action of RT on systemic amyloid deposits is still unclear, and uncertainty remains regarding its impact in the central nervous system. However, new RT modalities such as low-dose RT, FLASH, proton therapy or nanoparticle-enhanced RT could increase biological effects while reducing toxicity. Current evidence indicates that the potential of RT to treat neurodegeneration should be further explored.
Date of Publication
2022-10-14
Institution
BioISI - Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute
Where published
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Publication Identifiers
ISSN - 1422-0067
Publisher
MDPI AG
Document Identifiers
DOI -
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232012265
URL -
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms232012265
Rankings
SCIMAGO Q1 (2018) - 1.312 - Medicine (miscellaneous)
SCIMAGO Q1 (2018) - 1.312 - Organic Chemistry
SCOPUS Q2 (2019) - 5.3 - Molecular Biology
Keywords
Neurodegenerative disorders
amyloid
radiotherapy
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