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http://bit.ly/2Hr4pY0

美國der新聞

覺得我農場標題可以噓我沒關係>< 但希望能夠耐心看完這新聞 我翻譯的

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Scientists in California successfully changed a protein associated with
Alzheimer’s disease into a more harmless form, allowing them to erase brain
cell damage. The breakthrough is especially important because the research
was not conducted on mice but rather human cells.

加州的科學家，藉由改變阿茲海默症有關的其中一個蛋白，使得阿茲海默症變成一種無害
的狀態，完完全全消除原本會對腦部造成的傷害。這個新突破非常非常重要。因為這個
研究不是在老鼠細胞上實驗的，而是人類細胞實驗。

Researchers from the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco took stem cells
from Alzheimer’s patients who had two copies of the apoE4 gene as well as
stem cells from healthy volunteers who also had a pair of the apoE3 gene, a
study published online Tuesday said. They then created neurons, or brain
cells, from these stem cells.

舊金山的Gladstone研究所的研究員把阿茲海默患者的腦幹細胞取下，這個細胞會有兩個
有著apoE4基因的兩個樣本；再取下健康的人的腦幹細胞，而該細胞除了apoE4基因外
，還有著兩個apoE3基因。

Through studying these neurons, the team was able to identify exactly why
apoE4 puts individuals at such increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease. For
example, having one apoE4 gene more than doubles the chances of developing
Alzheimer’s disease, and possessing two copies of the gene increases risk of
developing the neurodegenerative brain disease by 12-fold, a statement on the
study reported.

藉由研究這些神經細胞，研究團隊能夠發現為何apoE4讓人類有較高的風險得到阿茲海默
症。研究提到，擁有一個apoE4基因會有兩倍的機會得到阿茲海默症，擁有兩個apoE4基因
的話，會有12倍的機會得到這個神經退化性腦部疾病。

Now we know this is because the apoE4 gene, which creates the apoE4 protein,
increases the production of the amyloid beta protein. This finding surprised
the researchers, as the presence of the apoE4 gene in mouse models did not
increase amyloid beta production.

我們現在知道這是apoE4基因害的。而apoE4基因製造apoE4蛋白，增加澱粉狀蛋白β蛋白
的產出。這個發現震驚了研究員，因為在老鼠的實驗中apoE4基因並沒有增加澱粉狀蛋白
β蛋白的產出。

“What’s important from this study is that we used human cells,” Yadong
Huang, senior investigator at Gladstone and lead author of the study told
Newsweek. “The many previous studies were performed on animal models or
animal cells.”

「這研究最重要的一件事，就是我們是使用人類細胞。」Glastone資深研究員
，該研究的領導人，黃亞東(譯名)，向我們Newsweek記者表示。「很多先前的研究都是
以動物模型或是動物細胞為主體下發展的。」

Increased amyloid beta production is significant because in some cases, these
proteins can clump together and form plaques. These plaques can disrupt
neuron messaging and in turn cause many of the symptoms associated with
Alzheimer's disease, such as cognitive problems.

澱粉狀蛋白β蛋白產出的增加非常的重大。因為在某些情況下，蛋白會聚集在一起，
並且組成一種板。這些所謂的"蛋白板"可能會破壞神經訊息傳輸，然後使得很多跟阿茲海
默症相關的症狀發生，比如說，認知問題。

Once the team confirmed that the presence of apoE4 promoted Alzheimer’s
disease, they then worked on a way to prevent this. They developed a way to
change the structure of the apoE4 protein in order to make it harmless. This
erased any damage of Alzheimer’s disease and helped increase brain cell
survival in the human cell model.

一旦小組確認apoE4會增加阿茲海默發生的機會，他們就開始找避免發生的方法。他們
找到一種方法可以改變apoE4蛋白的結構，使得apoE4變得無害。這會讓阿茲海默症的
任何腦細胞破壞等效果消失，並且幫助腦細胞在人類細胞模型內存活下來。

The results are promising, especially since they were seen in human cells and
not an animal model. Still, the research is not quite a cure, at least not
yet. The results will have to be repeated in human patients. The researchers
are now working to translate this finding into a compound that can be used on
an industrial level so that eventual human trials will be possible.

這結果令人振奮，尤其當這些結果是從人類細胞，而非動物細胞身上看到的。不過，
這研究還不是完全的解藥，至少現在不是。研究的結果還需要在人體身上多
做幾次實驗。研究員現在在找一種方法來將這個發現轉變成一個化合物，然後在充分
水平上實驗，最後才可以使用人體實驗。

“It’s hard to predict how long it would take but we are working very hard
right now to narrow it down from many small molecule candidates to finally
focus on one or two and then hopefully move to the clinical trials,” said
Huang.

「很難預測這要多久，但我們現在非常努力在研究它，來把目標縮小到幾個分子，最後
集中在其中一個或兩個身上，希望最後能夠進到醫療階段。」黃亞東說。


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備註：

1.喔喔喔喔好像很有機會?!?!讓失智老人消失的機會來惹?!?!
2.來一張阿茲海默爛梗圖做結尾
https://i.imgur.com/GArkimB.jpg

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