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美国国家公共电台 NPR Doctors In China Lead Race To Treat Cancer By Editing Genes

时间:2018-02-24 07:12:48

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Doctors In China Lead Race To Treat Cancer By Editing Genes1

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The new genetic3 engineering technique known as CRISPR is revolutionizing scientific research and stirring up a whole lot of excitement about new ways to treat diseases. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein recently traveled to China, where scientists are racing4 ahead of the rest of the world in using CRISPR to treat cancer.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE5: To see how Chinese doctors are using CRISPR, I traveled to the city of Hangzhou. It's about two hours southwest of Shanghai by bullet train. Hangzhou's famous for its big, beautiful lake where tourists take boat rides...

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

STEIN: ...And dance to music blaring from speakers along the waterfront. But Hangzhou's also home to the Hangzhou Cancer Hospital. When I visited early one morning, the lobby was already packed with patients, family members, doctors, nurses.

WU SHIXIU: Hi. I am Wu Shixiu.

STEIN: Oh, hi, Dr. Wu.

Dr. Wu Shixiu runs the Hangzhou Cancer Hospital and is on the leading edge of using this new gene2-editing technique to treat cancer in people. Dr. Wu takes me upstairs to watch as he uses CRISPR to treat one of his patients. CRISPR lets scientists make very precise changes in DNA6 much more easily than ever before.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Over intercom, speaking Chinese).

STEIN: When we get into the patient's room, Deng Shaorong is sitting up in bed. He's thin and looks frail7. Dr. Wu starts asking him questions as a nurse takes his blood pressure.

WU: (Speaking Chinese).

DENG SHAORONG: (Speaking Chinese).

STEIN: Deng's 53. He has cancer of the esophagus, stage 4 - the worst. I get a chance to ask them a few questions through my interpreter.

When did you first get sick?

DENG: (Through interpreter) It's over a year now.

STEIN: And you went through other treatment first?

DENG: (Through interpreter) He went through radiotherapy and chemotherapy both. And then it's not really working, so the doctor suggested this type of treatment.

STEIN: The treatment involves Dr. Wu sending some of Deng's blood to a biotech company about two hours away. There, scientists extract key immune system cells called T cells and use CRISPR to edit the genes in the cells. That gene editing unleashes8 the T cells so they can attack the cancer.

DENG: (Through interpreter) He's very excited. He feels like he's very lucky.

STEIN: Just then, a nurse rushes into the room. She's cradling a plastic pouch9. It's filled with a yellowish fluid. She hangs the pouch from a hook on the ceiling, pulls out an IV tube to attach to the pouch and slides a long needle into Deng's arm.

What is that they just brought in? What is that?

WU: This is a T cell.

STEIN: The immune system cells?

WU: Yes, yes.

STEIN: This is the actual experimental therapy?

WU: Yes. And now it's beginning.

STEIN: Dr. Wu's patient, Mr. Deng, stares at the needle as millions of genetically-modified immune system cells slowly drip into his body.

DENG: (Through interpreter) He can only hope it will get rid of the cancer.

STEIN: This is his second infusion10. Deng says he started feeling better soon after his first, about a month ago.

DENG: (Through interpreter) When he first arrived, he is on a wheelchair. And right now, he feels stronger. He can walk freely.

STEIN: Dr. Wu says he's treated 21 patients with advanced cancer of the esophagus and that more than a third have gotten better. One patient is still alive almost a year later. Usually, patients like this would die within months.

So it's not curing them, it's just keeping them from getting worse, just keeping them alive.

WU: Yes, yes.

STEIN: That's a big deal, I guess, for these patients 'cause...

WU: Yes. They have no choice. If they have not received this treatment, they will die - most of them will die in three to six months.

STEIN: Three to six months?

WU: Yes.

STEIN: And so far, Wu says, the only side effects have been minor11, maybe an occasional fever or a rash. Nine patients did die, Wu told me later, but Wu says that was from their cancer, not the treatment.

WU: (Through interpreter) To be a cancer doctor, you see so many deaths. So it's great to use a new treatment to save patients' lives, even if just to prolong their lives a little longer.

STEIN: And this isn't the only study doctors in China are doing to test CRISPR gene editing for cancer. China has at least nine studies - for lung cancer, bladder cancer prostate cancer and more. In the United States, only one has been approved, and that's just now about to get going. Why? Why is China so far ahead? I asked Wu about that.

WU: (Through interpreter) Chinese patients want to be cured of very much. There's a Chinese saying - a living dog is better than a dead lion. So patients are willing to try new cures. That's why the ethics12 committee and the lab are very positive about this.

STEIN: Wu says it only took a few months for that one ethics committee at his hospital to sign off on testing CRISPR on patients. But that makes some worry that some Chinese doctors may be rushing ahead too quickly.

CARL JUNE: So China's like a Wild West.

STEIN: That's Dr. Carl June, a University of Pennsylvania scientist involved in the U.S. study. His study went through two federal agencies and painstaking13 review by two more committees at his hospital before getting the go-ahead.

JUNE: You know, China is - they've made it a very high priority. They made a, you know, a national priority to develop this. There is some very high-quality research in China, and then there are some others that are not high quality.

STEIN: June doesn't think the U.S. should relax its safeguards to protect patients, but he worries the U.S. is falling behind like it did at the beginning of the space race.

JUNE: It was kind of like Sputnik 2.0.

STEIN: Sputnik was the Soviet14 satellite that shocked the U.S. when it became the first manmade object to orbit the Earth.

JUNE: CRISPR technologies have created a Sputnik moment where vast new improvements can occur if we focus on them and make it a priority. I want it to be done safely, But I want it to be a high priority.

STEIN: And he'd like to see a level playing field, where researchers around the world follow the same rules. For his part, Dr. Wu says his team explained all the possible risks to the patients very carefully. And he's already started treating patients with another kind of cancer, cancer of the pancreas.

WU: We just beginning. We just see the benefit to it for patients. We should improve it - more benefits for the patient.

STEIN: You want to improve it to get even more benefits for patients?

WU: Yes. But if you no try it, you never know.

STEIN: You don't try it, you'll never know?

WU: Yes. It's my opinion.

STEIN: His patient agrees. He says...

DENG: (Speaking Chinese).

STEIN: ...He's not worried at all. He believes in science.

Rob Stein, NPR News, Hangzhou, China.

(SOUNDBITE OF GOLD PANDA'S "CHIBA DAYS")


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 genes 01914f8eac35d7e14afa065217edd8c0     
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
2 gene WgKxx     
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。
3 genetic PgIxp     
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。
4 racing 1ksz3w     
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
参考例句:
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
5 byline sSXyQ     
n.署名;v.署名
参考例句:
  • His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
  • We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。
6 DNA 4u3z1l     
(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 frail yz3yD     
adj.身体虚弱的;易损坏的
参考例句:
  • Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了,身体虚弱,不便独居。
  • She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上,看上去特别虚弱。
8 unleashes df71589788f4116b2d7f3e79785af31d     
v.把(感情、力量等)释放出来,发泄( unleash的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • These findings qualify the common view that economic growth unleashes myriad discontents. 这些发现,纠正了一个普遍观点,即经济发展使人们尽情宣泄不满。 来自互联网
  • This caster unleashes a storm of electric discharge on the enemy. 法师向敌人释放出一片电火花的风暴。 来自互联网
9 pouch Oi1y1     
n.小袋,小包,囊状袋;vt.装...入袋中,用袋运输;vi.用袋送信件
参考例句:
  • He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
  • The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。
10 infusion CbAz1     
n.灌输
参考例句:
  • Old families need an infusion of new blood from time to time.古老的家族需要不时地注入新鲜血液。
  • Careful observation of the infusion site is necessary.必须仔细观察输液部位。
11 minor e7fzR     
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修
参考例句:
  • The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
  • I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。
12 ethics Dt3zbI     
n.伦理学;伦理观,道德标准
参考例句:
  • The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
  • Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。
13 painstaking 6A6yz     
adj.苦干的;艰苦的,费力的,刻苦的
参考例句:
  • She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明,但肯下苦功夫。
  • Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力,才取得今天的成绩。
14 Soviet Sw9wR     
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃
参考例句:
  • Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
  • Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

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