研究人員將測(cè)試給人移植豬皮 未來(lái)或無(wú)需人類捐獻(xiàn)皮膚

嚴(yán)重?zé)齻颊咄枰浦菜说钠つw才能闖過(guò)鬼門關(guān)。美國(guó)一家公司將開展的一項(xiàng)臨床測(cè)試給這些患者帶來(lái)了福音。未來(lái)，也許他們無(wú)需再等待其他人捐獻(xiàn)皮膚，而可以直接使用豬皮來(lái)做移植手術(shù)了。

In the future, we may not need to rely on human donations for life-saving skin grafts.

未來(lái)，可挽救生命的皮膚移植或許無(wú)需再依賴人類自身捐獻(xiàn)了。

graft [grɑ?ft] n.移植

That’s the goal of XenoTherapeutics, a Boston-based biotech nonprofit. Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the group’s initial application for temporary skin grafts curated from genetically modified pigs. This means that they can start testing pig skin grafts on people who have experienced severe burns. It’s the first time that an animal organ has been cleared for human testing in the US.

這就是總部設(shè)在波士頓的非營(yíng)利性生物科技企業(yè)塞諾移植治療公司的目標(biāo)。上周，美國(guó)食品和藥物管理局批準(zhǔn)了該公司使用基因改良豬的皮作為臨時(shí)移植皮膚的初步申請(qǐng)。這意味著，他們可以開始對(duì)嚴(yán)重?zé)齻哌M(jìn)行豬皮移植測(cè)試。這也是美國(guó)首次批準(zhǔn)用動(dòng)物器官進(jìn)行人體測(cè)試。

genetically modified：基因改良的，轉(zhuǎn)基因的

Skin, the body’s largest organ, plays a crucial role in the immune system by blocking pathogens from reaching our vulnerable internal organs. It also holds in water, electrolytes, and other nutrients, and helps the body maintain a constant temperature. People with severe skin damage are at a high risk of developing deadly infections or organ failure as a result of changes in temperature or hydration.

皮膚是人體最大的器官，可阻止病原體侵入人體脆弱的體內(nèi)器官，因此在免疫系統(tǒng)中發(fā)揮著至關(guān)重要的作用。此外，皮膚可鎖住水分、電解質(zhì)及其他營(yíng)養(yǎng)物質(zhì)，還可幫助人體保持體溫穩(wěn)定。皮膚嚴(yán)重受損者因體溫或水合狀態(tài)的改變而患致命性感染或器官衰竭的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)很高。

electrolytes [i'lektr?,laits] n.電解質(zhì);電解質(zhì)類

Skin grafts can help protect these patients as they heal. At the moment, the only skin grafts available in the US come from cadavers who have agreed to be organ donors, or patients who have undergone surgery to remove excess skin after dramatic weight loss. These human skin used for grafts are a “rare commodity.”

移植皮膚可在患者痊愈過(guò)程中對(duì)患者加以保護(hù)。當(dāng)前，在美國(guó)獲取移植皮膚的唯一途徑是使用同意捐獻(xiàn)器官者死后留下的皮膚，或因體重嚴(yán)重下降做多余皮膚去除術(shù)的患者皮膚。用于移植的人類皮膚可謂是“稀缺商品”。

XenoTherapeutics, which gets its name from xenotransplantation, or animal-to-human transplants, has bred pigs that have skin remarkably similar to our own. Although pig skin normally produces a type of sugar human skin does not, these pigs have been genetically modified not to make it. Grafts from these pigs are therefore more likely to slide under the radar of the host’s immune system—at least temporarily. The idea is that they could be used for immediate burn treatment, followed human skin graft treatment later.

塞諾移植治療公司的英文名就源自異種器官移植概念——即把動(dòng)物器官移植給人體。該公司飼養(yǎng)的豬，其豬皮與我們?nèi)祟惖钠つw極為相似。豬皮一般會(huì)生成一種糖而人皮則不會(huì)，為了使這些豬不生成這種糖，該公司對(duì)這些豬實(shí)施了基因改良。這樣一來(lái)，這些豬皮通過(guò)接受移植者免疫系統(tǒng)監(jiān)測(cè)的可能性就更高了——至少短期內(nèi)可以通過(guò)。這些豬皮可被用于緊急燒傷處理，之后再進(jìn)行人皮移植。

“I would venture that if we did a Coke and Pepsi side-by-side comparison… you’d be hard-pressed to tell which was the human cadaveric allograft versus [the pig graft],” said XenoTherapeutics CEO Paul Holzer.

塞諾移植治療公司首席執(zhí)行官保羅·霍爾澤說(shuō)：“我敢說(shuō)，這就像你把可口可樂(lè)和百事可樂(lè)放在一起進(jìn)行對(duì)比，你很難分得清哪個(gè)是源自人類尸體的同種異體移植皮膚，哪個(gè)是移植豬皮。”

hard-pressed ['hɑ:dprest] adj.被緊緊催逼的;面臨困難的

The nonprofit has been working closely with physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, who will help conduct the clinical trials starting next month. The first trial will only be testing the grafts’ safety and tolerability in six patients with severe burns. Assuming the results are positive after a month, the grafts will need to undergo two more stages of testing before they can be approved for widespread clinical use.

這家非營(yíng)利性企業(yè)一直在與馬薩諸塞綜合醫(yī)院的醫(yī)生們進(jìn)行緊密合作，這所醫(yī)院將從下月起協(xié)助進(jìn)行臨床實(shí)驗(yàn)。首次臨床實(shí)驗(yàn)將只在6名嚴(yán)重?zé)齻呱砩蠝y(cè)試移植的安全性以及耐受性。假設(shè)一個(gè)月后臨床實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果是積極的，移植工作還要進(jìn)行兩個(gè)階段的測(cè)試，而后才可獲批推廣到臨床使用。

Several other groups around the world are working to make animal organs suitable for clinical medicine. In Brazil, researchers are exploring using tilapia skin for use as temporary bandages for burn victims whose skin is regrowing. Just last week, scientists from Germany reported that they had made a crucial step in keeping baboons given genetically modified pig hearts alive for half a year. Their success suggests that pig hearts could one day be used to treat patients with heart failure.

除塞諾移植治療公司外，目前全球還有多個(gè)團(tuán)體在研究將動(dòng)物器官適用于臨床醫(yī)學(xué)。例如在巴西，研究人員正在研究用羅非魚的魚皮作為正在重新長(zhǎng)出皮膚的燒傷者的臨時(shí)綁帶。而就在上周，多位德國(guó)科學(xué)家報(bào)告稱他們也邁出重要一步，成功地讓接受基因改良豬心臟移植的狒狒存活了半年時(shí)間。這表明豬心臟未來(lái)將可能被用來(lái)治療心衰患者。