AbstractOf all of the environmental conditions of space flight that might have an adverse effect upon human immunity and the incidence of infection, space radiation stands out as the single-most important threat. As important as this would be on humans engaged in long and deep space flight, it obviously is not possible to plan Earth-bound radiation and infection studies in humans. Therefore, we propose to develop a murine model that could predict the adverse effects of space flight radiation and reactivation of latent virus infection for humans. Recent observations on the effects of gamma and latent virus infection demonstrate latent virus reactivation and loss of T cell mediated immune responses in a murine model. We conclude that using this small animal method of quantitating the amounts of radiation and latent virus infection and resulting alterations in immune responses, it may be possible to predict the degree of immunosuppression in interplanetary space travel for humans. Moreover, this model could be extended to include other space flight conditions, such as microgravity, sleep deprivation, and isolation, to obtain a more complete assessment of space flight risks for humans.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Predictors of immune function in space flight


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Acta Astronautica ; 60 , 4-7 ; 247-253


    Publication date :

    2006-01-01


    Size :

    7 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Predictors of immune function in space flight

    Shearer, William T. | Online Contents | 2007


    Predictors of immune function in space flight

    Shearer, W. T. / Zhang, S. / Reuben, J. M. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2007


    Immune function during space flight

    Sonnenfeld, Gerald / Shearer, William T. | NTRS | 2002


    Immune responses in space flight

    Sonnenfeld, G. | NTRS | 1998


    Space Flight and Immune System

    A. Cogoli | NTIS | 1992