{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T06:36:27Z","timestamp":1772087787454,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771459200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"AFRRI intramural grant","award":["AFR-B2-13613"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AFR-B2-13613"]}]},{"name":"NIH\/NIAID\/AFRRI Interagency Agreement","award":["HU000124F0029"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HU000124F0029"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>No US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved prophylaxis is currently available for Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS), which remains a significant threat to military and civilian populations. In this study, we investigated Vasculotide (VT), a Tie2 receptor agonist mimic, as a novel pre-exposure prophylaxis designed to stabilize the vascular endothelium, one of primary targets of radiation-induced damage. To evaluate its efficacy, female B6D2F1\/J mice were exposed to 9.5 Gy total body irradiation (TBI), with VT administered subcutaneously at 12 and 2 h prior to exposure. Assessments included 30-day survival, biomarkers of vascular injury, proinflammatory cytokine\/chemokine profiling, and evaluation of hematopoietic (H) and gastrointestinal (GI) recovery. Our findings demonstrate that VT significantly increased 30-day survival in a dose-dependent manner, achieving a 30% survival advantage at the 20 \u03bcg\/kg dose. Furthermore, VT provided robust protection against radiation-induced vascular activation and injury, effectively alleviating damage to the bone marrow (BM) and GI tract. Taken together, these results identify VT as a promising prophylactic countermeasure for ARS. By targeting the Tie2 pathway to preserve vascular integrity, VT addresses a critical gap in medical countermeasures, offering a viable strategy to enhance survival and accelerate multi-organ recovery in radiological mass-casualty scenarios.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27042001","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T15:57:29Z","timestamp":1771516649000},"page":"2001","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis with Vasculotide Enhances Survival and Alleviates Hematopoietic and Gastrointestinal Injury Following Lethal Total Body Irradiation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4700-989X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Li","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD 20817, USA"},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bin","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD 20817, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Min","family":"Zhai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD 20817, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lisa","family":"Hull","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD 20817, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Asher","family":"Rothstein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD 20817, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Katherine S.","family":"Cleveland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD 20817, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hengying","family":"Ellery","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Comparative Pathology, Department of Laboratory Animal Resources, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6408-8601","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wanchang","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Therapeutics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mang","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3904-2350","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juliann G.","family":"Kiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Therapeutics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"},{"name":"Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"420","DOI":"10.1667\/RADE-24-00036.1","article-title":"An Overview of Radiation Countermeasure Development in Radiation Research from 1954 to 2024","volume":"202","author":"Kiang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Radiat. 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