Researchers get closer to safe stem cell treatments

研究人员在安全应用干细胞进行治疗方面取得进展
CHICAGO (AFP) - Researchers came a step closer to finding a safe way to use stem cells in clinical treatment Thursday when a team of Japanese scientists announced they found a way to induce stem cells without triggering tumors.
芝加哥（法新社）----研究者们在安全使用干细胞进行临床治疗方面又迈进一步。周四来自日本的研究团队称发现一种诱导干细胞但不触发肿瘤的新途径。
Stem cells are considered a potential magic bullet cure for a host of diseases because they can be transformed into nearly any cell in the body and used to help replace damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.
干细胞被认为是一魔术子弹有治愈一系列疾病的潜力，因为他们可以转化为身体上的几乎任何一种细胞，可以帮助修复受损的或患病的细胞，组织和器官。
However, stem cell research is highly controversial because, until recently, viable human embryos were destroyed in the process of extracting the most flexible stem cells.
然而干细胞研究是倍受争议，因为直到现在，提取the most flexible干细胞过程中活的人类胚胎会受到损伤。
Two groups of scientists recently bypassed this problem by transforming human skin cells into stem cells which had the same properties as embryonic stem cells.
最近两组科学家绕过这种问题，将人类皮肤细胞转化成为干细胞，这类干细胞具有胚胎干细胞相同特性。
This offered the promise of treatments tailored to the specific genetic code of a patient -- anything from blood transfusions to transplantable organs grown in a petri dish -- without the need for harmful drugs to prevent rejection.
这使得适用于特定基因编码的单个病人的治疗成为可能----培养皿中生长的成分用于从输血到器官移植的任何用途----无需使用有害药物以防止排斥反应。
But the skin cells were regressed using a method which caused tumors and the potential for genetic mutation, which meant those induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS, were not safe for clinical use.
但采用一种方法可使皮肤细胞退化，而该方法可导致肿瘤和潜在的基因变异，这意味着这种诱导的多能干细胞或ips使用于临床是不安全的。
One of those teams has now managed to induce stem cells without causing tumors and in a way which may not cause as much genetic disruption.
其中的一个团队正在致力于诱导一类干细胞，这类干细胞不会导致肿瘤，在某种意义上不会导致很多的基因断裂。
They again used a retrovirus to introduce four genes, this time experimenting with adult mouse liver and stomach lining cells.
他们再次使用逆转录病毒导入四种基因到成年小鼠肝脏和胃粘膜细胞内。
Mice implanted with these induced pluripotent stem cells remained tumor free after six months, according to the study published online in Science Express.
根据在线发表Science Express上的研究结果，植入了这种多能干细胞的小鼠在六个月后仍未患肿瘤。
And the researchers showed that the retrovirus did not need to burrow into the adult cell genome at a specific sites. This could help scientists develop avoid viral integration at sites prone to trigger tumors.
同时研究者们展示该逆转录病毒不需要在成熟细胞基因组特定位置打孔进入特定位点。这可以帮助科学家研发，避免病毒整合到易引起肿瘤的位点。
While the results are promising, there is still much work to be done, said lead researcher of Kyoto University.
当结果可行时仍有大量的工作要做，Shinya Yamanaka（Kyoto大学，该研究领导者）说。
\"It still takes years of basic researches before we become able to use iPS cells to treat patients,\" Yamanaka said in an e-mail.
“在使用ips细胞治疗病人之前，仍需要数年的基础研究，”Yamanaka在一封emial中说。
\"We are doing our best to bring it to clinics as quick as possible.\"
“我们将尽最大努力尽快推向临床。”