正文
VOA慢速英语:Create Human Stem Cells Through Cloning
来自美国之音慢速英语,这里是健康报道。
American scientists have for the first time taken stem cells from human embryos that are genetic copies of living people. The goal is to create better treatments for disease. But the work has rasied ethical concerns about making genetic copies or cloning.
美国科学家首次从人类胚胎中提取干细胞,胚胎是活人的基因复制体。但这项成果引发了关于基因复制或克隆的伦理担忧。
Cloning a human being is illegal in more than twelve states. Most scientists have rejected it, but some medical researchers are performing what is called "therapeutic cloning" to try to fight disease. Still, that method is banned in seven states.
克隆人类在美国12个以上的州是非法的。许多科学家表示反对,但有的医疗研究者正在进行所谓的“治疗性克隆”,试图治愈疾病。。不过该方法在美国7个州同样被禁止。
One state where "therapeutic cloning" is not banned is Oregon, that is where researchers at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland were able to put human DNA into modified human eggs. They produced embryos that were genetically the same as the people who had donated their DNA. The researchers then took stem cells from the embryos, these cells are called "master cells". Scientists know how to use chemicals to cause master cells to develop into any tissue in the body.
俄勒冈是不禁止“治疗性克隆”的一个州,在这里,波特兰奥勒冈州卫生科学大学的研究者们已将人类DNA放入修改后的人类卵子。由此制成的人类胚胎和捐助DNA者在遗传基因上相一致。研究人员随后从胚胎中提取干细胞,这些细胞被称为“万能细胞”。科学家们懂得如何利用化学物质使万能细胞发育成任何人体组织。
The idea is that doctors could use tissue created this way to replaced diseased organs. The new body tissue would be a genetically match of the person receiving it, and there would be no danger that the patient's body would reject the new tissue which can happen with normal transplants.
研究者的设想是,医生可以用这种方法来将组织取代病变的器官,新的人体组织将和接受者的基因匹配,这样病人的身体就不会想一般的移植那样有排斥新组织的危险。
Shoukhrat Mitalipov led the organ study, which involved more than twenty researchers. The scientists believed the stem cells could give doctors a new way to treat Parkinson's disease - a degenerative movement disorder. Scientists believe they could use this genetic material or DNA from a skin cell of someone with Parkinson's disease to create a personalized treatment.
Shoukhrat Mitalipov负责俄勒冈州的这项研究,该研究包括20多名研究人员。科学家们认为干细胞能为医生治疗老年痴呆症提供一种新的途径。老年痴呆症是一种退行性运动障碍。科学家认为他们能这种够使用来自老年痴呆症患者皮肤细胞的遗传物质或DNA创造一种个性化治疗方案。
Alta Charo is a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin Law School, she believes it is too soon to say, whether the use of embryonic stem cells for personalized medicine would become common. Scientists could in fact find other less controversial sources of stem cells, however, she supports the use of stem cells to treat disease.
Alta Charo是威斯康辛大学法学院的一名生物伦理学家。她认为使用胚胎干细胞进行个性化治疗是否会成为普遍尚不好说。科学家可以找到其他不那么引起争议的干细胞来源,不过她支持使用干细胞来治疗疾病。
"I think that would argue for using them, I think there are moral obligation to people who are here among us, who are sick and in need. Trans-political concerns and a public relations, and perception problems around the very earliest first two or three days worth of development of an embryo-like entity."
“我想应该支持使用,对于那些需要治疗的病人来说,我们有道义上的责任来帮助他们。以及围绕最初的两三天胚胎实体发育的跨政治的关注、公关活动和观念问题。”
The research on the cloning of human embryos to harvest stem cells was published in the journal "Cell".
关于克隆人类胚胎来获取干细胞的研究发表在《细胞》杂志上。