Five cloned piglets, genetically modified so that their organs are much less likely to be rejected by a human donor recipient, have been born in the US.
在美國已誕生了5只基因改良的克隆小豬,這使得它們的器官在植入人體時(shí)產(chǎn)生排異反應(yīng)的可能性大為縮小。
More than 62,000 people in the US alone are waiting to receive donated hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys and pancreases. The number of human donors falls far short of demand. Pig organs are of a similar size to human organs, and some scientists hope they might be used to help meet the shortfall. But previous attempts to transplant unaltered pig tissue into humans have failed, due to immune rejection of the tissue.
僅僅在美國就有6.2萬多人在等待被捐獻(xiàn)出的心臟、肺、肝臟、腎臟和胰臟,器官捐獻(xiàn)者的人數(shù)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)滿足不了要求。豬的器官大小與人的器官相似,一些科學(xué)家希望它們可用于彌補(bǔ)器官短缺問題。但是,由于種間組織免疫系統(tǒng)的相互排異反應(yīng),從前那些用未經(jīng)改良的豬器官做的移植試驗(yàn)都失敗了。
The five piglets, born on Christmas Day, lack a gene for an enzyme that adds a sugar to the surface of pig cells. The sugar would trigger a patient's immune system into launching an immediate attack.
圣誕節(jié)出生的這5只小豬,缺少一種使豬的細(xì)胞表面加上某種糖類物質(zhì)的酶的基因。正是這種糖引發(fā)病人的免疫系統(tǒng)立即產(chǎn)生免疫排異反應(yīng)。
"This advance provides a near-time solution for overcoming the shortage of human organs for transplants, as well as insulin-producing cells to cure diabetes," says David Ayares, vice president of research at PPL Therapeutics, US division, where the pigs were created. " This is the key gene for overcoming the early stage of rejection."
培育出這些小豬的PPL醫(yī)療公司美國分部的研究項(xiàng)目副總裁大衛(wèi)·阿亞里斯說:"這項(xiàng)科研進(jìn)展及時(shí)解決了目前所面臨的人體器官移植來源短缺問題,以及治療糖尿病所需的生產(chǎn)胰島素的細(xì)胞。這是個(gè)解決早期排異反應(yīng)的關(guān)鍵基因。"
However, scientists warn that much more work is necessary before organs from copies of the pigs could be transplanted into humans. Human genes will need to be added, to prevent rejection of the organ in the long-term. There are also conerns that pig viruses could infect organ recipients.
但是,科學(xué)家們提醒說,在由克隆豬所提供的器官能夠順利植入人體以前,還有很多必需的工作要做。可能會(huì)需要再加上人體的基因以使這些器官能夠長期免于排異反應(yīng)。豬的病毒對(duì)接受器官的人的感染,也是個(gè)值得關(guān)注的問題。
Cloning techniques were vital to the production of the pigs. Genes can only be knocked out in a single cell. Cloning of these single cells then allowed the creation of a whole animal in which the gene was knocked out in every cell. But the PPL researchers have succeeded in knocking out only one copy of the gene for the enzyme, called alpha 1，3 galactosyl transferase. The team will now attempt to knock out both copies of the gene.
克隆技術(shù)是培育這些豬的關(guān)鍵?；虻娜コ挥性趩蝹€(gè)細(xì)胞中才能進(jìn)行?？寺∵@些單細(xì)胞然后再將其培育成一只完整的動(dòng)物,這樣動(dòng)物身上的每個(gè)細(xì)胞中的這種基因就都被去除了。但是,PPL醫(yī)療公司的研究人員只是成功地去除了產(chǎn)生這種叫α1,3半乳糖轉(zhuǎn)移酶的基因的一個(gè)副本。他們?cè)谠噲D將這個(gè)基因的兩個(gè)副本都去除。
"There will also be other genes we will incorporate into our program," Ayares says. "We don't think that one gene is going to produce an organ that's going to be the end-all for transplantation. We're going to have to add two to three human genes as well."
阿亞里斯說:"我們的項(xiàng)目也會(huì)包括其他基因,我們覺得掌握一個(gè)基因培育的器官并不能徹底解決器官移植面臨的所有問題。我們得再加入兩到三個(gè)人類基因的研究。"
The team will also conduct tests to investigate whether so-called porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVS)from the pigs could infect human cells in culture. But Ayares hopes that organs created from PPL pigs could be transplanted into patients within five years.
該小組還將通過實(shí)驗(yàn)驗(yàn)證是否豬身上的內(nèi)生性逆轉(zhuǎn)濾過性病毒(一種致癌病毒)會(huì)在移植培育過程中感染到人身上。但阿亞里斯希望在5年內(nèi)PPL醫(yī)療公司培育的器官能夠被移植到人身上。
"But although a lot of the stem cell work is very exciting, we're still very far off being able to grow an organ in a culture dish," says Julia Greenstein of Immerge Bio Therapeutics in Charlestown, US, who is working on creating similar knock-out pigs with researchers at the University of Missouri.
就職美國查爾斯城浸沒生物醫(yī)療公司的朱利婭·格林斯坦,正在密蘇里大學(xué)和同事們從事著類似的研究，即培育去除某種基因的小豬。她說:"盡管干細(xì)胞研究的許多工作令人非常激動(dòng),但在培養(yǎng)器中成功地培育出器官還為時(shí)過早。"
在美國已誕生了5只基因改良的克隆小豬,這使得它們的器官在植入人體時(shí)產(chǎn)生排異反應(yīng)的可能性大為縮小。
More than 62,000 people in the US alone are waiting to receive donated hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys and pancreases. The number of human donors falls far short of demand. Pig organs are of a similar size to human organs, and some scientists hope they might be used to help meet the shortfall. But previous attempts to transplant unaltered pig tissue into humans have failed, due to immune rejection of the tissue.
僅僅在美國就有6.2萬多人在等待被捐獻(xiàn)出的心臟、肺、肝臟、腎臟和胰臟,器官捐獻(xiàn)者的人數(shù)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)滿足不了要求。豬的器官大小與人的器官相似,一些科學(xué)家希望它們可用于彌補(bǔ)器官短缺問題。但是,由于種間組織免疫系統(tǒng)的相互排異反應(yīng),從前那些用未經(jīng)改良的豬器官做的移植試驗(yàn)都失敗了。
The five piglets, born on Christmas Day, lack a gene for an enzyme that adds a sugar to the surface of pig cells. The sugar would trigger a patient's immune system into launching an immediate attack.
圣誕節(jié)出生的這5只小豬,缺少一種使豬的細(xì)胞表面加上某種糖類物質(zhì)的酶的基因。正是這種糖引發(fā)病人的免疫系統(tǒng)立即產(chǎn)生免疫排異反應(yīng)。
"This advance provides a near-time solution for overcoming the shortage of human organs for transplants, as well as insulin-producing cells to cure diabetes," says David Ayares, vice president of research at PPL Therapeutics, US division, where the pigs were created. " This is the key gene for overcoming the early stage of rejection."
培育出這些小豬的PPL醫(yī)療公司美國分部的研究項(xiàng)目副總裁大衛(wèi)·阿亞里斯說:"這項(xiàng)科研進(jìn)展及時(shí)解決了目前所面臨的人體器官移植來源短缺問題,以及治療糖尿病所需的生產(chǎn)胰島素的細(xì)胞。這是個(gè)解決早期排異反應(yīng)的關(guān)鍵基因。"
However, scientists warn that much more work is necessary before organs from copies of the pigs could be transplanted into humans. Human genes will need to be added, to prevent rejection of the organ in the long-term. There are also conerns that pig viruses could infect organ recipients.
但是,科學(xué)家們提醒說,在由克隆豬所提供的器官能夠順利植入人體以前,還有很多必需的工作要做。可能會(huì)需要再加上人體的基因以使這些器官能夠長期免于排異反應(yīng)。豬的病毒對(duì)接受器官的人的感染,也是個(gè)值得關(guān)注的問題。
Cloning techniques were vital to the production of the pigs. Genes can only be knocked out in a single cell. Cloning of these single cells then allowed the creation of a whole animal in which the gene was knocked out in every cell. But the PPL researchers have succeeded in knocking out only one copy of the gene for the enzyme, called alpha 1，3 galactosyl transferase. The team will now attempt to knock out both copies of the gene.
克隆技術(shù)是培育這些豬的關(guān)鍵?；虻娜コ挥性趩蝹€(gè)細(xì)胞中才能進(jìn)行?？寺∵@些單細(xì)胞然后再將其培育成一只完整的動(dòng)物,這樣動(dòng)物身上的每個(gè)細(xì)胞中的這種基因就都被去除了。但是,PPL醫(yī)療公司的研究人員只是成功地去除了產(chǎn)生這種叫α1,3半乳糖轉(zhuǎn)移酶的基因的一個(gè)副本。他們?cè)谠噲D將這個(gè)基因的兩個(gè)副本都去除。
"There will also be other genes we will incorporate into our program," Ayares says. "We don't think that one gene is going to produce an organ that's going to be the end-all for transplantation. We're going to have to add two to three human genes as well."
阿亞里斯說:"我們的項(xiàng)目也會(huì)包括其他基因,我們覺得掌握一個(gè)基因培育的器官并不能徹底解決器官移植面臨的所有問題。我們得再加入兩到三個(gè)人類基因的研究。"
The team will also conduct tests to investigate whether so-called porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVS)from the pigs could infect human cells in culture. But Ayares hopes that organs created from PPL pigs could be transplanted into patients within five years.
該小組還將通過實(shí)驗(yàn)驗(yàn)證是否豬身上的內(nèi)生性逆轉(zhuǎn)濾過性病毒(一種致癌病毒)會(huì)在移植培育過程中感染到人身上。但阿亞里斯希望在5年內(nèi)PPL醫(yī)療公司培育的器官能夠被移植到人身上。
"But although a lot of the stem cell work is very exciting, we're still very far off being able to grow an organ in a culture dish," says Julia Greenstein of Immerge Bio Therapeutics in Charlestown, US, who is working on creating similar knock-out pigs with researchers at the University of Missouri.
就職美國查爾斯城浸沒生物醫(yī)療公司的朱利婭·格林斯坦,正在密蘇里大學(xué)和同事們從事著類似的研究，即培育去除某種基因的小豬。她說:"盡管干細(xì)胞研究的許多工作令人非常激動(dòng),但在培養(yǎng)器中成功地培育出器官還為時(shí)過早。"