How radiotherapy was historically used to treat pneumonia: could it be useful today?
Open Access
- 13 December 2013
- journal article
- Vol. 86 (4), 555-70
Abstract
X-ray therapy was used to treat pneumonia during the first half of the 20th century. Fifteen studies report that approximately 700 cases of bacterial (lobar and bronchopneumonia), sulfanilamide non-responsive, interstitial, and atypical pneumonia were effectively treated by low doses of X-rays, leading to disease resolution, based on clinical symptoms, objective disease biomarkers, and mortality incidence. The capacity of the X-ray treatment to reduce mortality was similar to serum therapy and sulfonamide treatment during the same time period. Studies with four experimental animal models (i.e., mice, guinea pig, cat, and dog) with bacterial and viral pneumonia supported the clinical findings. The mechanism by which the X-ray treatment acts upon pneumonia involves the induction of an anti-inflammatory phenotype that leads to a rapid reversal of clinical symptoms, facilitating disease resolution. The capacity of low doses of X-rays to suppress inflammatory responses is a significant new concept with widespread biomedical and therapeutic applications.Keywords
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Role of X-Rays in the Treatment of Gas Gangrene: A Historical AssessmentDose-Response, 2012
- Immunomodulatory Properties and Molecular Effects in Inflammatory Diseases of Low-Dose X-IrradiationFrontiers in Oncology, 2012
- Repeated Gamma Irradiation Attenuates Collagen-Induced Arthritis via Up-regulation of Regulatory T Cells but not by Damaging Lymphocytes DirectlyRadiation Research, 2010
- The therapeutic activity of low-dose irradiation on experimental arthritis depends on the induction of endogenous regulatory T cell activityAnnals Of The Rheumatic Diseases, 2010
- Anti-inflammatory action of apoptotic cells in patients with acute coronary syndromesAtherosclerosis, 2009
- Apoptotic cell-mediated suppression of streptococcal cell wall-induced arthritis is associated with alteration of macrophage function and local regulatory T-cell increase: a potential cell-based therapy?Arthritis Research & Therapy, 2009
- Radiation treatment of acute inflammation in miceInternational Journal of Radiation Biology, 2005
- Dose‐dependent biphasic induction and transcriptional activity of nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) in EA.hy.926 endothelial cells after low‐dose X‐irradiationInternational Journal of Radiation Biology, 2004
- The effects of low-dose X-irradiation on the oxidative burst in stimulated macrophagesInternational Journal of Radiation Biology, 2002
- Analgetische Bestrahlung degenerativentzündlicher Skeletterkrankungen: Nutzen und RisikoDeutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift (1946), 1993