Skin damage caused by radiation therapy (radiodermatitis) is a severe side effect of radiotherapy in cancer patients, and there is currently a lack of effective strategies to prevent or treat such skin damage. In the paper, they show that plasminogen, a pro-inflammatory factor, is key for the development of radiodermatitis. Together with studies at the molecular level, the authors report that plasmin is required for the induction of inflammation after irradiation that leads to radiodermatitis, and propose that inhibition of plasminogen activation can be a novel treatment strategy to reduce and prevent the occurrence of radiodermatitis in patients.

Plasminogen activation is required for the development of radiation-induced dermatitis.

Fallah M, Shen Y, Brodén J, Bäckman A, Lundskog B, Johansson M, Blomquist M, Liu K, Wilczynska M, Ny T.Cell Death Dis. 2018 Oct 15;9(11):1051. doi: 10.1038/s41419-018-1106-8.