VOA健康报道2023 美国科学家尝试改造猪肝拟供人体移植（在线收听）

American scientists are seeking to make pig livers behave more like human livers so they can be transplanted into people.

美国科学家正在努力使猪肝运转得更像人类肝脏，这样它们就可以移植到人类体内。

The reengineered livers could help fill a big need for replacement organs.

重新改造过的猪肝可以帮助满足人类对替代器官的巨大需求。

The first step for scientists is to wash away the pig cells that help the organ do its work.

科学家们的第一步是除掉帮助猪肝发挥作用的猪细胞。

This leaves the liver white and clear, with no blood vessels remaining in the tissue.

这使得猪肝变得洁白干净，组织中没有血管残留物。

Next, human liver cells are added to the empty pig liver.

接下来，科学家将人肝细胞添加到空的猪肝中。

The living cells move throughout the organ in an effort to restart the liver's functions.

活细胞在整个肝脏中移动，努力重新启动肝脏的功能。

Jeff Ross is head of the U.S.-based Miromatrix, the medical company involved in the research.

杰夫·罗斯是参与这项研究的美国医疗公司Miromatrix的负责人。

He told The Associated Press, "Because we remove all the cells from that pig organ ... our bodies don't see it as a pig organ."

他告诉美联社：“因为我们移除了猪肝中的所有细胞……我们的身体并不认为它是猪肝。”

He explained that the process can nearly "regrow the organ."

他解释说，这个过程几乎可以“让肝脏再生”。

Ross said the company aims to begin its first human testing sometime in 2023.

罗斯表示，该公司的目标是在2023年的某个时候开始第一次人体试验。

The goal of the testing will be to try to prove that the method can create functioning human livers.

该测试的目标是试图证明这种方法可以创造出功能正常的人体肝脏。

If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the testing, the first experiment will take place outside a patient's body.

如果美国食品药品监督管理局批准了这项测试，第一个实验将在患者体外进行。

A pig-turned-human-like liver will be put next to a patient to temporarily filter the blood of someone whose liver had failed.

一个由猪肝变成的人肝将被放在患者旁边，以暂时过滤肝脏衰竭患者的血液。

Experts say if the "liver assist" experiment works, it would mark a major step forward in developing genetically engineered organs that could be transplanted into humans.

专家表示，如果“肝脏辅助”实验成功，这将标志着人类在开发可移植到人类体内的基因改造器官方面向前迈出了重要的一步。

Dr. Sander Florman is the head of transplant operations at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital.

桑德·弗洛尔曼博士是纽约西奈山医院移植手术的负责人。

He told the AP the reengineering of animal organs for humans might sound like something only seen in science fiction.

他告诉美联社，为人类重新改造动物器官听起来像是只在科幻小说中才会看到的东西。

Florman said that he thinks the "liver assist" method is likely to be used to help patients without the need to implant a full organ into their bodies.

弗洛尔曼说，他认为“肝脏辅助”方法很可能被用来帮助患者，而不需要将整个器官植入他们的体内。

He said such a system can help save the lives of people suffering from organ failure.

他说，这样的系统可以帮助挽救器官衰竭患者的生命。

More than 105,000 people are currently on the U.S. waiting list for an organ transplant.

目前美国有超过10.5万人在等待器官移植。

Thousands of them will likely die before they get a chance to receive a new liver.

数以千计的人可能会在有机会接受新的肝脏之前死亡。

Thousands more never even get put on the list because they are not considered the best candidates.

还有数以千计的人甚至从未被列入名单，因为他们被认为不是最好的候选人。

"The number of organs we have available are never going to be able to meet the demand," Dr. Amit Tevar told the AP.

阿米特·特瓦尔医生告诉美联社：“我们现有的器官数量永远无法满足需求。”

He is a transplant surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

他是匹兹堡大学医学中心的移植外科医生。

Tevar, who is not involved in Miromatrix's research, said he thinks the planned outside-the-body testing would be an early first step in the development of animal organs for human use.

特瓦尔没有参与Miromatrix公司的研究，他说，他认为计划中的体外测试将是开发供人类使用的动物器官的第一步。

In 2021, researchers with Miromatrix and the Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic reported successfully transplanting a version of bioengineered livers into pigs.

2021年，Miromatrix公司和明尼苏达州梅奥诊所的研究人员报告称，他们成功地将基因改造过的肝脏移植到了猪体内。

In Maryland, a man lived for two months after receiving the world's first heart transplant from a pig in January 2022.

在马里兰州，一名男子在2022年1月接受了世界首例猪心脏移植手术后活了两个月。

To reduce the chance the man's body would reject the heart, scientists removed several genes from the donor pig that are linked to organ rejection.

为了减少该男子身体排斥猪心脏的可能性，科学家从供体猪身上去除了一些与器官排斥反应有关的基因。

The FDA is currently considering whether to approve additional transplant experiments that would permit kidneys or hearts from gene-edited pigs to be placed into humans.

美国食品药品监督管理局目前正在考虑是否批准更多的移植实验，允许将经过基因编辑的猪的肾脏或心脏移植到人类体内。

The bioengineering process, however, is very different.

然而，生物工程过程是非常不同的。

It does not require organs from genetically engineered pigs.

它不需要转基因猪的器官。

It only requires leftover organs from slaughterhouses – places where animals are killed for food.

它只需要屠宰场的剩余器官——屠宰场是人类宰杀动物作为食物的地方。

I'm Bryan Lynn.

布莱恩·林恩为您播报。