astronautss : that the cells themselves are sensitive to the presence or absence of gravity on a molecular level .”
The same mechanismss may be behind immune dysregulation on Earth . “ Researchers may be able to use microgravity to enhance self-assembly of complex tissuess to study various human diseases ,” Chang says . Ultimately
, this type of research could lead to drugs that turn up the immune response for immunosuppressed patients or turn it down to treat autoimmune or inflammatory disease .
Another ESA investigation , Immuno
, also observed T-cell changes in space . Increased understanding of how stress affects the immune system could help people on
Earth as well as support development of drugs to counter immune system changes for long-durationn spaceflight . Protecting muscles and bones
The ISS National Lab sponsored Mighty Mice in Space investigation showed that blocking a specific molecular signaling pathway involved in maintaining muscle and bone protected astronauts against bone and muscle loss in microgravity , and even stimulated growth . Results suggest that this strategy could prevent and treat such loss in people on Earth as well .
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir installs the Bone Densitometer that enables the imaging of rodent bones for Mighty Mice in Space . The investigation studies two proteins that may prevent muscle and bone loss in space . Credits : NASA
“ A key take home is that blocking this pathway , which we knew would be effective in stimulating increased bone and muscle mass on Earth , is just as effectivee in microgravity ,” says principal investigator Se-Jin Leee at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Connecticut . He explains that a number of drug candidates targeting this pathway already have been developed and tested in clinical trials , with mixed results . “ One trial showed promising results , but the drug needs to be tweaked to avoid side effects . Theree is still a fair amount of work to be done to pursue this strategy for treating muscle loss . We have some amazing data on the magnitude of the effect on the ground and in space and hope it will stimulate a lot of drug development activity .”
Increasingly , researchers from companies small and large , institutions , government agencies , and other organizations leveragee microgravity to address complex human health issues on Earth . By providing a platform for long-term microgravity research , the space station fosters breakthroughs that yield direct benefits to people on Earth . Remove gravity from the equation and we can see out-of-this-world breakthroughs .