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Radiation-induced lung injury: latest molecular developments, therapeutic approaches, and clinical guidance

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Abstract

Cancer research has advanced throughout the years with respect to the personalization of the treatments and to targeting cancer-related molecular signatures on different organs. Still, the adverse events of the treatments such as radiotherapy are of high concern as they may increase the mortality rate due to their severity. With the improved efficiency of cancer treatments, patient survival has been increasing. Consequently, the number of patients with adverse effects from radiotherapy is also expected to increase in the forthcoming years. Therefore, approaches for personalized treatments include the elimination of adverse events and decreasing the toxicity in healthy tissues while increasing the efficiency of cancer cytotoxicity. In this context, this paper aims to discuss the recent advances in the field of thorax irradiation therapy and its related toxicities leading to radiation pneumonitis in cancer patients. Molecular mechanisms involved in the radiation-induced lung injury and approaches used to overcome this lung injury are discussed. The discourse covers approaches such as therapeutic administration of natural products, current and prospective radioprotective drugs, and applications of mesenchymal stem cells for radiation-induced lung injury.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent Project of Lanzhou (2018-RC-81), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81560508, 51563022), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (31920180020).

Funding

The work was supported by Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent Project of Lanzhou (2018-RC-81), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81560508, 51563022), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (31920180020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Engineering Institute of Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, People’s Republic of China

    Lina Lu, Qiong Su, Yanbin Wang, Jia Li & Lihua Chen

  2. Key Laboratory for Utility of Environment-Friendly Composite Materials and Biomass in University of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730124, People’s Republic of China

    Lina Lu, Qiong Su, Yanbin Wang, Jia Li & Lihua Chen

  3. Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Chao Sun & Hong Zhang

  4. Medical College of Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, People’s Republic of China

    Zhong Guo

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  1. Lina Lu
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Lu, L., Sun, C., Su, Q. et al. Radiation-induced lung injury: latest molecular developments, therapeutic approaches, and clinical guidance. Clin Exp Med 19, 417–426 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-019-00571-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-019-00571-w

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