強(qiáng)迫癥原來(lái)都是基因惹的鍋

Do you often feel like you want to wash your hands again and again? Or do you ever have the urge to line up the items on your desk? These all may be symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, which affects about 2 percent of the world’s population.

你常想一遍又一遍地洗手嗎?或者你是否曾有想要把桌上物品整理好沖動(dòng)?這些或許都是強(qiáng)迫癥的癥狀，全球2%的人口受此影響。

Those who suffer from OCD have difficulty finding successful treatment because doctors don’t clearly understand its causes. But now, a new study has given hope for a future cure.

這些飽受強(qiáng)迫癥困擾的人很難得到有效的治療，因?yàn)獒t(yī)生也無(wú)法明確病因。而如今，一項(xiàng)新研究帶來(lái)了未來(lái)治愈強(qiáng)迫癥的希望。

For the study, which was published in the journal Nature in October, researchers observed humans, dogs and mice. They discovered four genes that may be responsible for obsessive-compulsive behaviors in humans.

在《自然》期刊10月發(fā)布的這項(xiàng)研究中，研究人員對(duì)人類(lèi)、狗以及老鼠進(jìn)行了觀察。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)四種基因或許是人類(lèi)強(qiáng)迫癥行為的癥結(jié)所在。

But why observe dogs and mice to learn about humans?

但研究人類(lèi)為什么還要觀察狗和老鼠呢?

“Dogs, it turns out, are surprisingly similar to people,” study author and geneticist Elinor Karlsson, of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, US, told NPR. “They’re chasing their own tail or chasing shadows like normal, but they’re doing it for hours.”

“事實(shí)證明，狗和人類(lèi)有著驚人的相似性，”該研究作者、來(lái)自美國(guó)哈佛大學(xué)-麻省理工學(xué)院布羅德研究所的遺傳學(xué)家Elinor Karlsson在接受美國(guó)全國(guó)公共廣播電臺(tái)采訪時(shí)表示。“有的狗像正常的狗一樣追著自己的尾巴或者影子跑，但一跑就是幾個(gè)小時(shí)。”

In the study, researchers made a list of about 600 genes in mice, dogs and humans that they thought might cause OCD, reported NPR. They then compared those genes in two large groups of people – those who don’t have OCD and those who do. In the end, they identified just four genes with mutations in the OCD group. The genes are active in a neurological pathway in the brain, which is believed to help control actions. But the mutations could block the neurological pathway.

據(jù)美國(guó)全國(guó)公共廣播電臺(tái)報(bào)道，在研究中，研究人員認(rèn)為共有600種老鼠、狗以及人類(lèi)的基因會(huì)導(dǎo)致強(qiáng)迫癥，并據(jù)此制作了一張基因列表。他們將這些基因與兩大組人群(有強(qiáng)迫癥的人和沒(méi)有強(qiáng)迫癥的人)進(jìn)行比對(duì)。結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)只有四種基因在患有強(qiáng)迫癥的人群中發(fā)生了突變。這些被認(rèn)為有助于控制行為的基因在大腦的神經(jīng)通路中相當(dāng)活躍。但突變或許會(huì)阻斷神經(jīng)通路。

For example, for people without OCD, when they finish washing their hands, a signal will come, telling them to stop. But for people with OCD, the neurological pathway is blocked, so the message isn’t getting through. As a result, the person will continue to wash their hands.

比如，沒(méi)有強(qiáng)迫癥的人洗完手后會(huì)收到一個(gè)信號(hào)，告訴他們可以停下了。但強(qiáng)迫癥患者的神經(jīng)通路卻被阻斷了，所以這一信息無(wú)法傳達(dá)。結(jié)果就是他們會(huì)去不斷地洗手。

“OCD and anxiety are kind of like learning disorders,” Marcos Grados, an OCD researcher at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told NPR. “Often with OCD, people have a fear of germs. You can’t touch tables or door knobs and every time it’s the same sensation. You didn’t learn that the last time you touched a door knob, nothing happened. It’s like touching it for the first time ever.”

“強(qiáng)迫癥和焦慮癥類(lèi)似于閱讀障礙癥，”約翰斯·霍普金斯大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院的強(qiáng)迫癥研究員Marcos Grados在接受美國(guó)全國(guó)公共廣播電臺(tái)采訪時(shí)表示。“有強(qiáng)迫癥的人往往都會(huì)害怕細(xì)菌。他們不敢碰桌面或者門(mén)把手，每次觸碰都會(huì)產(chǎn)生同種異樣的感覺(jué)。他們無(wú)法想起上次觸碰門(mén)把手安然無(wú)事的經(jīng)歷，永遠(yuǎn)都像是第一次的體驗(yàn)。”

However, that doesn’t mean people who have these genetic mutations will always have obsessive-compulsive behaviors, the researchers said. That’s because the disorder also relies on other things, such as one’s environment.

然而，研究人員表示，這并不意味著帶有這些基因突變的人就會(huì)有強(qiáng)迫癥的行為。因?yàn)閺?qiáng)迫癥還受制于環(huán)境等其他因素。

According to reports, various existing treatment methods have low success rates in patients. But now that we know where OCD comes from, let’s hope we will soon find an effective way to treat it.

報(bào)告表明，現(xiàn)有的各種治療方式對(duì)于強(qiáng)迫癥患者都奏效甚微。但如今我們知道了強(qiáng)迫癥的癥結(jié)所在，希望很快就能找到治療強(qiáng)迫癥的有效方法。