经济学人424:癌症基因疗法取得新进展

 　　Cancer genetics

　　癌症遗传学

　　Gene¹ therapy

　　基因疗法

　　Genetic² mutations predict which cancers will respond to treatment

　　基因突变将预测某种治疗会对哪些癌症起作用

　　THE International Cancer Genome Consortium, an alliance of laboratories that is trying to produce a definitive³ list of the genetic mutations that cause cancer, is accumulating data at an astonishing rate. About 3,000 individual breast tumours⁵, for example, have now had their genotypes published. But these data will not, by themselves, help patients. For that, they have to be collected in the context of a drug trial. And this is just what Matthew Ellis and his colleagues at Washington University in St Louis have done for women suffering from breast cancer. Their methods, if they prove to work for other cancers too, may revolutionise treatment.

　　国际癌症基因组协作组（THE International Cancer Genome Consortium）是试图建立一份会引起癌症的基因突变完整清单的实验室联盟，它积累数据的速度让人吃惊。例如，它已经发表了大约3000种不同的乳房肿瘤的基因型。但光凭这些数据本身无法帮助患者。要医治病人，人们必须结合药物试验采集数据。而这正是在圣路易斯市的华盛顿大学（Washington University in St Louis）工作的马修?埃利斯（Matthew Ellis）及其同事们为罹患乳腺癌的妇女们所作的工作。如果事实证明他们的方法对其他癌症也有用的话，这可能会是癌症治疗的一次革命。

　　Dr Ellis and his team sequenced the whole genomes of both cancerous and normal tissue from 46 women with tumours of a type called oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer. They also sequenced just the gene-containing regions of the genome-about 1% of total DNA⁶-from an additional 31 women, and parts of the sequences of 240 more. They then compared the healthy and tumorous⁷ genomes of each patient, in order to discover which genes⁸ had mutated in the cancer.

　　埃利斯博士及其团队对46名身患雌激素受体阳性乳腺癌的妇女的癌组织和正常组织进行了全基因组测序。他们也对另外31名病人的基因组中含有基因的那些区域（约占整个DNA的1%）进行了测序，并对其他240名病人的这些部分做了部分测序。此后，为找出癌细胞中哪些基因发生了突变，他们比较了每个病人的健康和癌变基因组。

　　In this, they were following the normal protocol⁹ of the cancer genome consortium. The novelty of their approach was that the women in question had each been involved in one of two clinical trials of a drug called letrozole. These trials established letrozole as a standard treatment for people with this type of breast cancer, but not all patients benefit equally from the drug. Dr Ellis hoped to find out why.

　　他们在这一工作中是按癌症基因组协作组的标准程序操作的，但其方法的新颖之处是，他们还同时进行一种名为来曲唑的药物的临床试验。该试验有两种，每个病人都接受其中的一种。这些试验证实来曲唑是这类乳腺癌的标准治疗方法，但它对每个病人的疗效并不一样。埃利斯博士希望找出其原因。

　　As they report in Nature, he and his team discovered 18 genes that were often mutated. Some were the usual suspects of cancer genetics. These included p53, a gene that, when working properly, suppresses cancer by regulating DNA repair, cell division and cellular¹⁰ suicide, and MAP3K1 and MAP2K4, which both promote cell growth. Others, though, were a surprise. At the top of that list were five which had previously¹¹ been linked to leukaemia, but were not thought to affect solid tumours.

　　正如他们在《自然》杂志中所报告的那样，埃利斯和他的团队发现了18种经常发生突变的基因，其中有些是癌症遗传学通常怀疑的对象。这中间包括p53，这种基因在正常工作时通过调节DNA对的修复、细胞分裂和细胞自杀来抑制癌症；还有MAP3K1和MAP2K4，它们都能促进细胞生长。但也有些令人吃惊的其他结果。高踞名单前列的5种基因是人们过去认为与白血病有关的，没想到它们也会影响实体瘤。

　　By combining their newly acquired genetic data with clinical data from the participants, Dr Ellis and his colleagues showed that those whose tumours carried mutations in p53 (16% of the total) were less likely to have responded to letrozole than women whose tumours had normal p53. Conversely, those whose tumours had changes in either MAP3K1 or MAP2K4 (another 16%) had better than average responses to the drug.

　　将他们新得到的基因数据与参与试验者的临床数据结合，埃利斯博士等人证明了，来曲唑对肿瘤中有p53基因突变的病人（占总数的16%）的疗效不如对肿瘤中p53基因正常的病人那样显著。与此相反，这一药物对肿瘤中MAP3K1或MAP2K4有变化的病人（也占总数的16%）的疗效高于平均水平。

　　This sort of information has obvious implications for treatment. And the cheapness of modern gene-sequencing methods, particularly those that are looking for specific mutations suspected in advance, means that a tumour⁴'s mutational¹² complement¹³ can be worked out easily in an appropriately equipped pathology laboratory. In the case of oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, the genetic analysis has not yet gone so far as to be able to say with certainty which drug will produce the best result for a given individual, but Dr Ellis's result lays a foundation on which such an edifice¹⁴ might be built for breast cancer and perhaps for other types of tumour, too.

　　这种信息对治疗的含义是明显的。而且，现代基因测序法价格低廉，寻找预先已有怀疑的某些特别的基因突变尤为便宜；这意味着，在拥有合适装备的病理实验室里，人们可以很容易地找出肿瘤基因突变的补体。就雌激素受体阳性乳腺癌来说，基因分析还无法肯定地告诉我们，哪种药物对某个病人疗效最佳；但埃利斯博士的结果打下了一个基础，或许可以在此之上为乳腺癌——甚至其他种类的癌症——的治疗建立有效的预测方法。

1 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

2 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

3 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

4 tumour   

n.(tumor)(肿)瘤，肿块

参考例句：

• The surgeons operated on her for a tumour.外科医生为她施行了肿瘤切除手术。
• The tumour constricts the nerves.肿瘤压迫神经。

5 tumours   

肿瘤( tumour的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Blood vessels develop abnormally in cancer tumours. 在癌肿瘤中血管出现不正常。
• This apparatus scans patients' brains for tumours. 这台仪器扫描检查病人的脑瘤。

6 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

7 tumorous   

肿胀的； 肿瘤性的； 浮华的； 浮夸的

参考例句：

• Younger patients with non-tumorous nipple discharge should be followed up. 年轻的非肿瘤性乳头溢液患者应随访。
• Methods: Seven patients with mandibular tumor were treated with pr ompt autotransplantation of boliled tumorous mandibule. 方法：对7例下颌骨肿瘤患者施行了煮沸自体下颌肿瘤骨立即再植术。

8 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

9 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

10 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

12 mutational   

[医] 突变的

参考例句：

• These large populations facilitate the detection of rare mutational or recombinational events. 这样的大群体有利于检出稀有的突变或重组子。
• All sorts of mutational damage to animals' DNA would have occurred. 动物的脱氧核糖核酸可能遭到了各种各样的突变破坏。

13 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

14 edifice   

n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室)

参考例句：

• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。
• There is a huge Victorian edifice in the area.该地区有一幢维多利亚式的庞大建筑物。