'Remarkable' therapy beats terminal breast cancer

一種“引人注目”的治療方法戰(zhàn)勝了晚期乳腺癌

The life of a woman with terminal breast cancer has been saved by a pioneering new therapy, say US researchers.

美國(guó)研究人員說(shuō)，一個(gè)晚期乳腺癌患者的生命已經(jīng)被一種開創(chuàng)性的新療法拯救。

It involved pumping 90 billion cancer-killing immune cells into her body.

這關(guān)系到將900億個(gè)殺死癌癥的免疫細(xì)胞注入她的體內(nèi)。

Judy Perkins had been given three months to live, but two years later there is no sign of cancer in her body.

朱迪帕金斯被宣布只有三個(gè)月的生命，但兩年后，她的身體里卻找不到癌癥的跡象了。

The team at the US National Cancer Institute says the therapy is still experimental, but could transform the treatment of all cancer.

美國(guó)國(guó)家癌癥研究所的研究小組稱這種療法仍然是實(shí)驗(yàn)性的，但卻可能改變所有癌癥的治療方法。

Judy - who lives in Florida - had spreading, advanced breast cancer that could not be treated with conventional therapy.

朱迪住在佛羅里達(dá)州，患有擴(kuò)散性、晚期乳腺癌，不能使用常規(guī)療法治療。

She had tennis ball-sized tumours in her liver and secondary cancers throughout her body.

在她的肝臟上有個(gè)網(wǎng)球大小的腫瘤，同時(shí)還有繼發(fā)性癌癥遍布她的整個(gè)身體。

She told the BBC: "About a week after [the therapy] I started to feel something, I had a tumour in my chest that I could feel shrinking.

她告訴英國(guó)廣播公司：“治療后大約一個(gè)星期，我開始有感覺(jué)，我胸部有一個(gè)腫瘤，我可以感覺(jué)到它在縮小。

"It took another week or two for it to completely go away.”

“又花了一到兩個(gè)星期，它就完全消失了?！?/span>

She remembers her first scan after the procedure when the medical staff "were all very excited and jumping around”.

她記得這個(gè)療程結(jié)束后第一次做掃描的時(shí)候，醫(yī)務(wù)人員“都興奮得跳了起來(lái)”。

It was then she was told that she was likely to be cured.

就是在那時(shí)，她得知自己可能會(huì)痊愈。

Now she's filling her life with backpacking and sea kayaking and has just taken five weeks circumnavigating Florida.

目前，她正忙著背包旅行和海上劃艇，已經(jīng)在佛羅里達(dá)州航行了五個(gè)星期。

Living therapy

生活療法

The technology is a "living drug" made from a patient's own cells at one of the world's leading centres of cancer research.

該技術(shù)是在世界領(lǐng)先的癌癥研究中心之一的一種“活的藥物”，它由病人自己的細(xì)胞生成。

Dr Steven Rosenberg, chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute, told the BBC: "We're talking about the most highly personalised treatment imaginable.”

國(guó)家癌癥研究所外科主任Steven Rosenberg博士對(duì)英國(guó)廣播公司說(shuō)：“我們所說(shuō)的是最高度個(gè)性化的治療方法?！?/span>

它仍然是實(shí)驗(yàn)性的，還需要相當(dāng)多的測(cè)試才能得到更廣泛的應(yīng)用，但它的工作原理是從了解敵人開始。

A patient's tumour is genetically analysed to identify the rare changes that might make the cancer visible to the immune system.

對(duì)一個(gè)病人的腫瘤進(jìn)行基因分析，以確定免疫系統(tǒng)能識(shí)別癌癥的罕見變化。

Out of the 62 genetic abnormalities in this patient, only four were potential lines of attack.

在這62個(gè)基因異常中，只有四個(gè)是潛在的攻擊線。

Next researchers go hunting. A patient's immune system will already be attacking the tumour, it's just losing the fight between white blood cells and cancer.

接下來(lái)，研究人員開始找尋獵物。一個(gè)病人的免疫系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)攻擊了腫瘤，只是白細(xì)胞輸給了癌癥。

The scientists screen the patient's white blood cells and extract those capable of attacking the cancer.

科學(xué)家篩選患者的白細(xì)胞，提取那些可攻擊癌癥的細(xì)胞。

These are then grown in huge quantities in the laboratory.

然后在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里大量繁殖。

Around 90 billion were injected back into the 49-year-old patient, alongside drugs to take the brakes off the immune system.

大約900億的細(xì)胞被注射回這名49歲的患者，同時(shí)還有藥物來(lái)阻止免疫系統(tǒng)的啟動(dòng)。

Dr Rosenberg told me: "The very mutations that cause cancer turn out to be its Achilles heel."

羅森伯格博士告訴我：“導(dǎo)致癌癥的基因突變就是它的致命弱點(diǎn)?！?/span>

'Paradigm shift’

 換位模式

These are the results from a single patient and much larger trials will be needed to confirm the findings.

這些是來(lái)自單個(gè)患者的結(jié)果，還需要更大范圍的試驗(yàn)來(lái)證實(shí)這些發(fā)現(xiàn)。

The challenge so far in cancer immunotherapy is it tends to work spectacularly for some patients, but the majority do not benefit.

迄今為止，在癌癥免疫治療中面臨的挑戰(zhàn)是，它對(duì)于某些患者來(lái)說(shuō)很有效，但往往對(duì)大多數(shù)患者卻沒(méi)有效果。

Dr Rosenberg added: "This is highly experimental and we're just learning how to do this, but potentially it is applicable to any cancer.

羅森伯格博士補(bǔ)充說(shuō)：“這是極端具有實(shí)驗(yàn)性的，我們正在努力嘗試將它適用于任何癌癥。

"At lot of works needs to be done, but the potential exists for a paradigm shift in cancer therapy - a unique drug for every cancer patient - it is very different to any other kind of treatment."

“還有許多工作要做，但是潛在的存在于癌癥治療的換位模式——對(duì)于每一個(gè)癌癥患者來(lái)說(shuō)，這是一種獨(dú)特的藥物——它與任何其他類型的治療非常不同?！?/span>

The details were published in journal Nature Medicine.

詳情刊登在《自然醫(yī)學(xué)》雜志上。

Commenting on the findings, Dr Simon Vincent, director of research at Breast Cancer Now, said the research was "world class”.

乳腺癌的研究主任Simon Vincent博士評(píng)論說(shuō)，這項(xiàng)研究是“世界級(jí)”的。

He told the BBC: "We think this is a remarkable result.

他告訴英國(guó)廣播公司：“我們認(rèn)為這是一個(gè)引人注目的結(jié)果。

"It's the first opportunity to see this sort of immunotherapy in the most common sort of breast cancer at the moment it has only been tested in one patient,

“這是目前看到的第一例在最常見的乳腺癌使用這種免疫療法，且只是在一個(gè)病人身上進(jìn)行測(cè)試，

"There's a huge amount of work that needs to be done, but potentially it could open up a whole new area of therapy for a large number of people.”

“有大量的工作需要做，但是有可能為很多人打開一個(gè)全新的治療領(lǐng)域。”