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Researchers believe the new treatment, which works on bone marrow, muscle and skin, could be available within five years. The team have found that blocking the action of a gene seems to make healthy cells immune to even very large doses of radiation.
At the same time the treatment was found to increase the death of malignant cells and stops them from growing back. More than half of all cancer patients are treated at least in part with radiation in order to reduce tumours and stop it spreading.
But the same radiation that kills cancer cells can also destroy healthy ones, causing side effects such as nausea and vomiting, skin sores and rashes, and weakness and fatigue. The body's own immune system can also be damaged, harming natural defences against the disease.
Howver American scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine believe they have stumbled on a solution.
While looking into gene treatments for heart disease and high blood pressure, they discovered that suppressing the action of a protein known as TSP1/CD47 made cells, at least in pigs and mice, immune to even the highest doses of radiation.
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