Red risks for a journey to the red planet: The highest priority human health risks for a mission to Mars

Patel, Zarana S.; Brunstetter, Tyson; Tarver, William J.; Whitmire, Alexandra; Zwart, Sara R.; Smith, Scott M.; Huff, Janice L.

doi:10.1038/s41526-020-00124-6

Cited by 217 publications

(172 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…The conquest of space is very important to us humans. In the course of the expanded exploration of space, combined with the settlement of the Moon, the installation of new Space Stations as well as planned trips to Mars and other planets, more thought must also be given to the treatment of space travelers (Patel et al, 2020). There will be an increase in crew members and space travelers on board together with more onboard and extravehicular activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Apoptosis in Wound Healing and Apoptosis Alterations in Microgravity

Riwaldt

Corydon

Pantalone

et al. 2021

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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Functioning as the outermost self-renewing protective layer of the human organism, skin protects against a multitude of harmful biological and physical stimuli. Consisting of ectodermal, mesenchymal, and neural crest-derived cell lineages, tissue homeostasis, and signal transduction are finely tuned through the interplay of various pathways. A health problem of astronauts in space is skin deterioration. Until today, wound healing has not been considered as a severe health concern for crew members. This can change with deep space exploration missions and commercial spaceflights together with space tourism. Albeit the molecular process of wound healing is not fully elucidated yet, there have been established significant conceptual gains and new scientific methods. Apoptosis, e.g., programmed cell death, enables orchestrated development and cell removal in wounded or infected tissue. Experimental designs utilizing microgravity allow new insights into the role of apoptosis in wound healing. Furthermore, impaired wound healing in unloading conditions would depict a significant challenge in human-crewed exploration space missions. In this review, we provide an overview of alterations in the behavior of cutaneous cell lineages under microgravity in regard to the impact of apoptosis in wound healing. We discuss the current knowledge about wound healing in space and simulated microgravity with respect to apoptosis and available therapeutic strategies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Apoptosis in Wound Healing and Apoptosis Alterations in Microgravity

Riwaldt

Corydon

Pantalone

et al. 2021

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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“…There are 23 documented health risks associated with these spaceflight hazards. Those designated as ''red'' risks by NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) 1 are considered the highest priority given their likelihood of occurrence and potential for significant impacts to crew health, performance in-flight and/or to long-term health, and are described online by the Human Research Roadmap (https://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/).…”

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confidence: 99%

Earth-Based Research Analogs to Investigate Space-Based Health Risks

et al. 2021

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During spaceflight, astronauts are exposed to a variety of unique hazards, including altered gravity fields, long periods of isolation and confinement, living in a closed environment at increasing distances from Earth, and exposure to higher levels of hazardous ionizing radiation. Preserving human health and performance in the face of these relentless hazards becomes progressively more difficult as missions increase in length and extend beyond low Earth orbit. Finding solutions is a significant challenge that is further complicated by logistical issues associated with studying these unique hazards. Although research studies using spacebased platforms are the gold standard, these are not without limitations. Factors such as the small sample size of the available astronaut crew, high expense, and time constraints all add to the logistical challenge. To overcome these limitations, a wide variety of Earth-based analogs, from polar research outposts to an undersea laboratory, are available to augment space-based studies. Each analog simulates unique physiological and behavioral effects associated with spaceflight and, therefore, for any given study, the choice of an appropriate platform is closely linked to the phenomena under investigation as well as the characteristics of the analog. There are pros and cons to each type of analog and each actual facility, but overall they provide a reasonable means to overcome the barriers associated with conducting experimental research in space. Analogs, by definition, will never be perfect, but they are a useful component of an integrated effort to understand the human risks of living and working in space. They are a necessary resource for pushing the frontier of human spaceflight, both for astronauts and for commercial space activities. In this review, we describe the use of analogs here on Earth to replicate specific aspects of the spaceflight environment and highlight how analog studies support future human endeavors in space.

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“…Although it is known that FST has a concentration-dependent inhibiting effect on the myostatin-driven rate of muscle breakdown, which contributes to increasing frailty in aging individuals, the overall effect of increasing longevity warrants further inquiry. We anticipate that sarcopenia, muscular dystrophy, or even special circumstances causing muscle atrophy, such as low gravity exposure during space travel (46)., could be mitigated with a CMV-based FST gene delivery method.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New intranasal and injectable gene therapy for healthy life extension

Zhu

Selariu³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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As the global elderly population grows, it is socioeconomically and medically critical to have diverse and effective means of mitigating the impact of aging on human health. Previous studies showed that adenovirus-associated virus (AAV) vector induced overexpression of certain proteins can suppress or reverse the effects of aging in animal models. Here, we sought to determine whether the high-capacity cytomegalovirus vector can be an effective and safe gene delivery method for two such-protective factors: telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and follistatin (FST). We found that the mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV) carrying exogenous TERT or FST (MCMVTERT or MCMVFST) extended median lifespan by 41.4% and 32.5%, respectively. This is the first report of CMV being used successfully as both an intranasal and injectable gene therapy system to extend longevity. Treatment significantly improved glucose tolerance, physical performance, and prevented loss of body mass and alopecia. Telomere shortening seen with aging was ameliorated by TERT, and mitochondrial structure deterioration was halted in both treatments. Intranasal and injectable preparations performed equally well in safely and efficiently delivering gene therapy to multiple organs, with long-lasting benefits and without carcinogenicity or unwanted side effects. Translating this research to humans could have significant benefits associated with increased health span.

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Red risks for a journey to the red planet: The highest priority human health risks for a mission to Mars

Cited by 217 publications

References 84 publications

Role of Apoptosis in Wound Healing and Apoptosis Alterations in Microgravity

Role of Apoptosis in Wound Healing and Apoptosis Alterations in Microgravity

Earth-Based Research Analogs to Investigate Space-Based Health Risks

New intranasal and injectable gene therapy for healthy life extension

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