NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Study Design to Test the Hypothesis That Long-Term Space Travel Harms the Human and Animal Immune SystemsThe potential threat of immunosuppression and abnormal inflammatory responses in long-term space travel, leading to unusual predilection for opportunistic infections, malignancy, and death, is of ma or concern to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Program. This application has been devised to seek answers to questions of altered immunity in space travel raised by previous investigations spanning 30-plus years. We propose to do this with the help of knowledge gained by the discovery of the molecular basis of many primary and secondary immunodeficiency diseases and by application of molecular and genetic technology not previously available. Two areas of immunity that previously received little attention in space travel research will be emphasized: specific antibody responses and non-specific inflammation and adhesion. Both of these areas of research will not only add to the growing body of information on the potential effects of space travel on the immune system, but be able to delineate any functional alterations in systems important for antigen presentation, specific immune memory, and cell:cell and cell:endothelium interactions. By more precisely defining molecular dysfunction of components of the immune system, it is hoped that targeted methods of prevention of immune damage in space could be devised.
Document ID
20000020582
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Shearer, William T.
(Baylor Coll. of Medicine Houston, TX United States)
Lugg, Desmond J.
(Australian Antarctic Div. Australia)
Ochs, H. D.
(Washington Univ. United States)
Pierson, Duane L.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX United States)
Reuben, James M.
(M. D. Anderson Cancer Center United States)
Rosenblatt, Howard M.
(Baylor Coll. of Medicine Houston, TX United States)
Sams, Clarence
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX United States)
Smith, C. Wayne
(Baylor Coll. of Medicine Houston, TX United States)
Smith, E. Obrian
(Baylor Coll. of Medicine Houston, TX United States)
Smolen, James E.
(Baylor Coll. of Medicine Houston, TX United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1999
Publication Information
Publication: Proceedings of the First Biennial Space Biomedical Investigators' Workshop
Subject Category
Aerospace Medicine
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Document Inquiry

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available