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Researchers in New York have demonstrated that an experimental drug protected monkeys and mice from the damaging effects of radiation. The drug protected the animals’ bone marrow and gastrointestinal cells from being destroyed by radiation without reducing the radiation’s ability to fight cancer, researchers reported Thursday. The finding could someday lead to better emergency treatments for radiation exposure and less toxic cancer treatments. "These tissues fail because these cells choose to commit suicide. Our idea was to block these suicidal intentions," said Andrei Gudkov of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. Gudkov also serves as chief scientific officer at Cleveland BioLabs Inc., the company developing the drug. He explained that radiation triggers cells to undergo a type of programmed cell death know as apoptosis, the body’s way of ridding itself of defective cells. However, tumors have figured out how to block this suicide function.