Researchers say they have developed a new drug that could potentially save the human body in the case of a lethal radiation accident.

In a new study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, scientists from Stanford University tested a class of small molecule drugs, known as PHD inhibitors, on mice doused with toxic amounts of radiation. The drugs successfully protected the animals from radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome, a serious condition that usually causes death within two weeks of exposure, the Fox News reported.

“The epithelial lining of the gastrointestinal tract – the small intestine and large intestine – these cells are tightly linked. But with radiation, they will start dying by cell death,” Amato Giaccia, a professor of radiation oncology at Stanford, told FoxNews.com. “Then the lining will break down, which results in fluid loss and diarrhea. The next thing that happens is you get sepsis – a bacterial infection that will kill you.”

Giaccia noted that preventing cell death in the GI tract is one of the most effective ways of saving someone from radiation death, as the symptoms of GI syndrome tend to be the most lethal effects of radiation exposure.

In order to protect the important cells in the gut, the researchers looked for drugs that could stimulate a molecular pathway that produces proteins called hypoxia-inducible factors, or HIF proteins. These types of proteins are important for helping the intestine to absorb nutrients, and maintaining healthy fluid exchange in the GI tract.

This led them to PHD inhibitors, which are already being used clinically to treat conditions such as anemia caused by renal insufficiency. PHD inhibitors work by targeting an enzyme called prolyl hydroxylase, which is known to suppress the HIF pathway and limit the production of HIF proteins.

Using a specific oral PHD inhibitor called DMOG, the researchers were able to protect a group of mice from lethal doses of radiation when they gave them the drug just before exposure – and up to 24 hours after exposure. The DMOG drug ultimately prevented fluid loss, diarrhea and sepsis from forming, and the mice were able to have normal levels of feces and pass comparable amounts of stool.