肺癌研究新进展，化疗将不再是唯一方案

Cancer researchers presented more evidence of advances against one of the deadliest and most common forms of the disease—lung cancer—at a major medical meeting here.

癌症研究人员在一场重要医学会议上提供了肺癌治疗取得进展的更多证据。肺癌是死亡率和患病率最高的癌症之一。

Studies released at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in recent days showed that a range of newer approaches, from immune-boosting drugs to treatments targeting genetic traits of tumors, can help patients. Some of the drugs are supplanting or augmenting chemotherapy, which has been commonly used to treat lung cancer for years but with limited effectiveness.

美国临床肿瘤学会(American Society of Clinical Oncology)年会近日发表的多份研究显示，从提高免疫力的药物到针对肿瘤遗传特性的治疗方法，一系列能帮到患者的新治疗方案已经出现。某些药物可以用于辅助或增强化疗效果，多年来，化疗一直是治疗肺癌的常见方法，但效果有限。

The drugs aren’t cures and they don’t help all patients, and for many the prognosis remains grim. But doctors said there are more treatment options with better outlooks for patients than a decade ago.

这些药物并不能治愈肺癌，也并不适用于所有病人，对不少病人来说，用药后的情况仍然堪忧。但医生们认为，和10年前相比，现在治疗方案更多，病人治疗后病情好转的机会也更大。

“The era in which chemotherapy was the only option for non-small-cell lung cancer patients is drawing to a close,” said John Heymach, lung-cancer specialist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, referring to the most common type of lung cancer.

John Heymach是休斯敦得克萨斯大学MD安德森癌症中心(University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)的肺癌专家，他在提到最常见的非小细胞肺癌时称，对于这种肺癌患者来说，只能采用化疗的时代快要结束了。

A new late-stage Merck & Co. study showed that a combination of Merck’s immune-boosting drug Keytruda with chemotherapy prolonged median overall survival, versus chemotherapy alone, in patients with a type of lung cancer. Another late-stage study showed adding Roche Holding AG’s immune-boosting drug Tecentriq to chemotherapy reduced the risk of cancer progression or death, versus chemotherapy alone.

默克公司(Merck & Co. Inc., MRK)一项进入最后阶段的新实验显示，在患有某种肺癌的病人身上，和只采用化疗相比，搭配使用默克旗下提高免疫力的药物Keytruda可以提高整体存活期的中位数。另一项进入最后阶段的实验显示，和只采用化疗相比，搭配使用罗氏公司(Roche Holding Ag, ROG.VX, RHHBY)旗下提高免疫力的药物Tecentriq可以降低癌症扩散或死亡的风险。

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer, causing about 1.69 million deaths globally in 2015, according to the World Health Organization. The American Cancer Society estimates about 234,030 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed this year in the U.S., and about 154,050 Americans will die from the disease this year.

肺癌是主要的癌症杀手，根据世界卫生组织的数据，2015年全球约有169万人死于肺癌。据美国癌症协会估计，今年美国将有234,030例新的肺癌病例被诊断出来，今年大约有154,050名美国人死于这种疾病。

The large patient population has made the development of new treatments a big business opportunity. Analysts and investors follow the results of each study closely, which can result in big stock-price swings.

庞大的患者群体使新疗法的发展成为一个巨大的商机。分析师和投资者密切关注每项研究结果，这可能导致股价大幅波动。

Shares of startup Loxo Oncology Inc. dipped Monday as investors digested the results of a new early-stage study of an experimental drug that targets a genetic mutation found in a variety of tumor types including lung cancer. Shares of Nektar Therapeutics plunged 42% on disappointing results of an early study of its experimental immune-boosting drug that has potential as a treatment for lung and other cancers.Merck shares rose 2.4% on its Keytruda study results.

初创公司Loxo Oncology Inc. (LOXO)股价周一盘前上涨，但周一后市场略微下跌，因投资者仍在尝试解读一种新药的初期实验结果，这种新药主要用于应对肺癌等多种癌症中发现的某种肿瘤基因突变。Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR)周一后市重下降42%，因该公司旗下一种提高免疫力的新药的初期实验结果令人失望，该药有望用于治疗肺癌等多种癌症。受Keytruda实验结果影响，默克公司股价周一涨2.4%。