Mar. 25th 2009
Clinical trials are underway at Wake Forest University on a treatment that has completely cured cancer in dozens of mice. Dr. Zheng Cui， the lead investigator and his team recently won government approval to proceed with human trials.
The therapy involves the transfusion of wite blood cells from cancer-resistant donors into cancer patients， letting loose a uniquely qualified army of disease fighters to attack the invading tumor.
Some scientists are skeptical about them over from mice to lumens， but others are excited. "This is the first time that such aggressive cancer in mice has been eradicated like this." Cui said.
The result is especially dramatic conspiring its discovery stemmed from a series of accidents， Cui and his team were using mice as experimental cancer patients for their research， injecting them with malignant cells. But one mouse didn't develop tumors and die.
The team continued testing the oddball mouse. No matter how many times the researchers tried to give the mouse cancer， it didn't develop tumors. The mouse was immune to cancer.
Cui and his team bred the mouse and tested its offspring for cancer immunity. Three of the mouse's seven grandchildren didn't get cancer， either. Whatever was causing the cancer resistance was built into the mouse's family genes.
Cui's next step was simple. All he and his team did was transfuse the immune mouse cells into the sick mice. And the tumors melted away.
"We don't know how it works exactly，" Cui said. Rather than spend years determining the mechanisms behind the miracle， Cui thought it more important to press forward toward clinical trials in humans.
Cui said he is aware that the procedure comes with risks， but he notes that other white blood cell transfusions has been used for years.
"This could be another arrow in the cancer treatment quiver，" Cui said.
Vocabulary Focus
Underway （adj）在進(jìn)行中
Happening now
Eradicate （v） 滅絕， 消滅
To get rid of completely or destroy something bad
Oddball （adj）古怪的
Displaying unusual and strange behavior
Vocabulary Focus
Transfusion （n）輸血，灌輸
The process of adding an amount of blood to the body of a person or animal
Malignant （adj）惡性的，有害的
Describes a disease or a diseased growth that is likely to get uncontrollably worse and lead to death
Clinical trials are underway at Wake Forest University on a treatment that has completely cured cancer in dozens of mice. Dr. Zheng Cui， the lead investigator and his team recently won government approval to proceed with human trials.
The therapy involves the transfusion of wite blood cells from cancer-resistant donors into cancer patients， letting loose a uniquely qualified army of disease fighters to attack the invading tumor.
Some scientists are skeptical about them over from mice to lumens， but others are excited. "This is the first time that such aggressive cancer in mice has been eradicated like this." Cui said.
The result is especially dramatic conspiring its discovery stemmed from a series of accidents， Cui and his team were using mice as experimental cancer patients for their research， injecting them with malignant cells. But one mouse didn't develop tumors and die.
The team continued testing the oddball mouse. No matter how many times the researchers tried to give the mouse cancer， it didn't develop tumors. The mouse was immune to cancer.
Cui and his team bred the mouse and tested its offspring for cancer immunity. Three of the mouse's seven grandchildren didn't get cancer， either. Whatever was causing the cancer resistance was built into the mouse's family genes.
Cui's next step was simple. All he and his team did was transfuse the immune mouse cells into the sick mice. And the tumors melted away.
"We don't know how it works exactly，" Cui said. Rather than spend years determining the mechanisms behind the miracle， Cui thought it more important to press forward toward clinical trials in humans.
Cui said he is aware that the procedure comes with risks， but he notes that other white blood cell transfusions has been used for years.
"This could be another arrow in the cancer treatment quiver，" Cui said.
Vocabulary Focus
Underway （adj）在進(jìn)行中
Happening now
Eradicate （v） 滅絕， 消滅
To get rid of completely or destroy something bad
Oddball （adj）古怪的
Displaying unusual and strange behavior
Vocabulary Focus
Transfusion （n）輸血，灌輸
The process of adding an amount of blood to the body of a person or animal
Malignant （adj）惡性的，有害的
Describes a disease or a diseased growth that is likely to get uncontrollably worse and lead to death