2007年VOA标准英语-Researchers Use Gene Therapy to Treat Parkinson

By Jessica Berman
Washington
21 June 2007

U.S. researchers are using gene¹ therapy to treat the neurological condition Parkinson's disease, and they say the results so far are promising². VOA's Jessica Berman reports.

Successful gene therapy to correct a host of devastating³ diseases has been elusive⁴.  But researchers may have gotten a step closer with a treatment for Parkinson's disease, the second most common neuro-degenerative condition after Alzheimer's disease. 

Neurologist Michael Kaplitt at the Weill College Medicine at Cornell University in New York says Parkinson's limits the ability of patients to move, and the gene therapy helped them to move.

"The symptoms are tremors⁵ and stiffness, freezing, you know, muscle stiffness," he said.  "So, when you put that all together as sort of a composite, we saw there was a significant improvement in these patients over time that lasted for the full one year of the study."

Kaplitt says there is a group of cells in the region of the brain that controls movement through production of a chemical called dopamine.  In Parkinson's disease, Kaplitt says, the cells stop producing dopamine and the movement control center becomes hyperactive. 

In the onset⁶ of the disease, Parkinson's symptoms can be quieted with drugs that replace dopamine.  But as the disease progresses, the drugs make the symptoms worse. So, Kaplitt and colleagues decided⁷ to try to bypass the dopamine-producing cells to see if they could alter regulation of movement at a higher brain level.

Researchers developed a therapy in which they attached a modified gene to viral particles and infused the treatment into one side of the brain of 12 participants with varying degrees of Parkinson's symptoms.

The gene, called GABA, helps in the production of a chemical that has a calming effect over a wider area of the brain.

Kaplitt says investigators⁸ were hoping for lasting⁹ results.

"The idea was, with a single surgery at a single site, putting in this one gene there, that you would create a little factory that would essentially¹⁰ reestablish the normal neuro-chemical balance of a large part of this circuit to normalize the flow of information to the rest of the brain and thereby¹¹ hopefully improve symptoms," he explained.

Kaplitt says it took three months for the therapy to kick in, but once it did, most patients showed significant improvement of their symptoms up to one year after the therapy.  He says for some patients, the improvements were not as marked or did not last as long.

The study was completed in May 2006 and its results were published in the latest issue of The Lancet.

A larger trial is being planned.

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 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

3 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

4 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

5 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

6 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。