Copyright
©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
On the immunological limitations of hibernation and synthetic torpor as a supporting technique for astronauts’ radioprotection in deep space missions
Joseph J Bevelacqua, Bevelacqua Resources, Richland, WA 99352, United States
James Welsh, Department of Radiation Oncology, Loyola Stritch School of Medicine, Hines VA Hospital Chicago, Chicago, IL 60153, United States
Seyed Mohammad Javad Mortazavi, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz 7134845794, Iran
Seyed Mohammad Javad Mortazavi, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111, United States
Author contributions: Mortazavi SMJ drafted the manuscript; all authors designed the research study; and all authors have revised and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Seyed Mohammad Javad Mortazavi, PhD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Doss Lab (R-432), 333 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19111, United States. mortazavismj@gmail.com
Received: March 11, 2019
Peer-review started: March 12, 2019
First decision: July 17, 2019
Revised: September 29, 2019
Accepted: December 13, 2019
Article in press: December 13, 2019
Published online: December 27, 2019
Processing time: 294 Days and 7.3 Hours
Peer-review started: March 12, 2019
First decision: July 17, 2019
Revised: September 29, 2019
Accepted: December 13, 2019
Article in press: December 13, 2019
Published online: December 27, 2019
Processing time: 294 Days and 7.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: During long-term manned space missions beyond the protective shield of Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field (e.g., a mission to Mars or a long stay on the Moon), while the combined effect of radiation and microgravity affects the astronauts’ immune system, torpor-induced extra-immunosuppression can be potentially life threatening for astronauts.