艾滋病疫苗研制失败引发尖锐讨论
Sharp Debate Over HIV Vaccine FailureScientists Can't Agree on Future of HIV Research
科学家们不能就艾滋病研究的未来达成一致
By Todd Zwillich
Todd Zwillich报道
WebMD Medical NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MDMarch 25, 2008 -- The recent failure of the most promising HIV vaccine ever
developed has scientists taking stock and wondering where to go next.
webmed 医学新闻综述 louise chang医学博士，2008年3月25日---最近，有史以来最具希望的艾滋病疫苗研制失败把科学家们带回原点，并且
不知路在何方。
After more than 20 years of research, answers to that question are scarce.
经过20多年的研究，关于这一问题仍然缺乏良策。
\"We have to admit to ourselves that we don't know how to make an HIV vaccine right now,\" said Beatrice H. Hahn, MD, a
microbiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“我们必须得承认，我们现在还不知道究竟该如何来制造一份艾滋病疫苗，”位于伯明翰阿拉巴马州立大学的微生物学家Beatrice H. Hahn博
士说。
Hahn spoke in front of hundreds of researchers gathered in Bethesda, Md., to try to brainstorm ideas for finding a vaccine
for HIV; the virus has killed 25 million people worldwide and now infects an estimated 33 million, according the World Health
Organization.
Hahn在Bethesda面对几百名聚集的研究者演说，试图为找到HIV的疫苗而集思广益。根据世界卫生组织的统计，这种病毒已经在世界范围内杀死
了2千5百万人，现在感染的超过3千3百万人。
The meeting comes several months after the drug company Merck announced it was halting human trials of its experimental HIV
vaccine. Not only did the vaccine not work to prevent infection, but it also didn't reduce the amount of virus in people who
became infected; there were also indications suggesting it may have made it easier for some people to contract the virus.
这个会是在Merck制药公司宣布终止其艾滋病疫苗人体试验几个月后开的。他们的疫苗既不能防止感染，也不能减少已感染者体内的病毒量；甚
至还有迹象表明它会促进感染的发生。
The failure has researchers and policy makers locked in a debate. Some are calling for more money for testing vaccines
similar to the failed Merck vaccine already in the pipeline. Others want to abandon the vaccines under testing and start from
scratch.
这样的失败使得研究者和政策制定者不得不关起门来讨论。有人说要更多的资金来测试Merck公司剩下的疫苗，还有人要放弃这些疫苗，另起炉
灶，重头开始。
\"Nothing currently around is going to cause significant protection, in the opinion of many of us,\" Hahn said. She counts
herself among the leading scientists calling on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to sharply reduce support for testing
existing experimental vaccines. The money should be spent instead on basic scientific research aimed at finding new
approaches to a vaccine, these scientists say.
“我们多数人的意见认为当前没有什么疫苗能起到有效的保护作用”Hahn说。她是呼吁国立卫生研究院大幅削减对现有实验疫苗财政支持的顶
尖科学家之一。这些科学家说，这些钱应该用于基础研究探索找到疫苗的新路。
Funding HIV Research
资助HIV研究
NIH officials say they've been hurt by five years of flat funding from Congress. One effect of the shortfall is dwindling
support for young researchers who could come up with new ideas, they say.
NIH的官员抱怨说5年来国会资助的资金有限，让他们很为难。这样他们不得不削减对于年轻研究者的支持，而这些年轻人是可能带来新思维的
人。
\"The easy things have been done,\" said James Hoxie, MD, who directs the Penn Center for AIDS Research at the University of
Pennsylvania.
“容易干的事情都已经干完了”James Hoxie博士说，他领导着宾夕法尼亚大学的宾州艾滋研究中心。
Wednesday's meeting was part scientific strategy session, part group therapy session for a field stunned by its lack of
progress.
星期三的会议部分是科学战略研讨会，部分是某一个领域进展迟滞的分组治疗的讨论会。
Several leading scientists, including Anthony Fauci, MD, head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
have offered stark comments recently warning that an AIDS vaccine may never be found.
几个顶级科学家，包括Anthony Fauci博士，国立过敏与感染疾病研究院的领导者，做出了比较极端的评论，艾滋病的疫苗可能永远都找不到。
Hoxie implored the group to face head-on Merck's failure, and the failure of other HIV vaccines before it.
Hoxie恳请他们勇于面对Merck公司的失败以及以前其他失败的疫苗。
\"It comes with the territory. It is part of the process, we have to be willing to accept it, we have to be willing to fund
it,\" he said.
“一切还在掌控之中，这只是过程的一部分，我们不得不愿意接受它，我们不得不愿意继续资助它，”他说。
\"It is only one step back,\" said Adel Mahmoud, MD, PhD, a Princeton University professor of microbiology and the meeting's
co-chair. \"The status quo and finger pointing isn't going to take us anywhere.\"
“这只是一次失败”Adel Mahmoud博士说，他是普林斯顿大学微生物学教授，大会的副主席。“现状和将来都不会影响我们”
Fauci was more enthusiastic: \"Everything is on the table to look at.\" He added that that he was \"unambiguous\" about the need
to shift more funding toward basic scientific discoveries that could lead to new vaccines.
Fauci的发言更激烈：“所有的事情都是明摆着的，一目了然”他补充说他很清楚要把更多资金投向可能导致发现新疫苗的基础领域的需求
HIV Vaccines: What Comes Next?
艾滋病疫苗：何去何从？
But earlier this week several HIV research advocacy groups called for the U.S. government to abandon efforts to develop an
HIV vaccine. Homayoon Khanlou, MD, U.S. chief of medicine for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said that the money should
instead be spent on increased HIV testing and treatment, which both help cut the risk of HIV transmission.
但是本周早些时候，几个拥护艾滋病研究的团体呼吁美国政府放弃艾滋病疫苗的研究。Homayoon Khanlou博士，美国艾滋病健康基金会的主席
，说这些钱应该用于艾滋病检查和治疗方面，它们都有助于抑制艾滋病的传播。
All the clinical trials that have been done with the vaccine have yielded no results,\" Khanlou told reporters. \"They've left
us with no clue in terms of which way to go.\"
“关于艾滋病疫苗所有的临床实验都没有结果”Khanlou告诉记者。“它们也没有留下关于将来怎么办的任何线索。”
Few researchers seemed willing to consider abandoning vaccine efforts entirely. But several described their field as being a
crossroads.
赞成完全放弃疫苗研究的研究者也不多。但几个研究者称他们的工作处于十字路口。
\"The idea that we shut everything we have done and get to do something else is absolutely insane,\" Mahmoud said.
“让我们完全放弃已经做了的工作去做其他事情简直是有病”Mahmoud说。
He showed the audience of scientists a slide quoting Winston Churchill's famous speech to a group of British students during
World War II. \"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never,\" it read.
他向他的科学家听众展示了一张幻灯片，引用二战时丘吉尔对一群英国学生的著名演讲说“永不放弃。永不放弃。永远不，永远不，永远不，永远不。”
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