Mouse Study Shows Immune Systems Genetically Compromised by Spaceflight
Immune Systems Compromised in Space A mouse-astronaut candidate poses atop a model solar panel. Its compatriots, flown on space shuttle Endeavour, led to a discovery that the immune system is compromised in space. Wikimedia commons/NASA The astronauts launching on space shuttle Atlantis this afternoon will experience fatigue, muscle and bone-density loss, and a host of other space ills during the next couple of weeks. But their counterparts who will one day travel to Mars face greater problems -- their immune systems will be compromised, thanks to genes that behave differently in space. Spaceflight changes the activity of genes that control immune and stress response, according to a new study of space-flown mice at the University of Arizona. Mice-tronauts that flew aboard space shuttle Endeavour in 2007 participated in the discovery, which will be published May 15 in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. Immunobiologist Ty Lebsack and his colleagues focused on the thymus...