30万美金的娃娃范冰冰:睾丸干细胞可能治愈糖尿病

      有朝一日，人类的糖尿病可以通过自身睾丸的干细胞而得到治愈，只要当前的研究取得成功。

Researchers have taken the stem cells that would differentiate into sperm from adult men and, after a five-week process, transformed them into cells that secrete insulin, just like the beta islet cells in the pancreas, which Type 1 diabetes destroys. The researchers will present their findings today (Dec. 12) at the American Society of Cell Biology 50th annual meeting in Philadelphia.

       研究人员从成人睾丸内取出能分化成精子的干细胞，然后通过五周的一个流程，使其转化成像胰岛B细胞一样分泌胰岛素的细胞，而这种胰岛B细胞正是1型糖尿病所被破坏的一种细胞。研究者会在费城细胞生物学50界年会上公布他们的新发现。

In Type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks and destroys the beta-islet cells of the pancreas, so the body can no longer process glucose using insulin, the hormone they produce.

       在1型糖尿病中，免疫系统攻击并破坏胰岛B细胞，因此，机体将不能通过B细胞分泌的胰岛素来利用血糖。

With these new, pseudo-pancreatic cells, the researchers have successfully brought down the blood glucose levels of diabetic mice.

       通过这种新型的模拟胰岛功能的细胞，研究人员成功的降低了糖尿病小鼠的血糖值。

The technique is promising, but there's still work to do.

       这个技术十分有前景，但是仍然有很多工作要做。

"We need to get the amount of insulin up to the point [of] being secreted from each cell that it will be enough to cure diabetes in humans," said G. Ian Gallicano, a developmental and stem cell biologist at Georgetown University Medical Center. "If you are a mouse and you have diabetes, you are in luck, we can help you."

       乔治城大学医学中心的发育干细胞专家伊恩加里卡诺说，“我们需要每个细胞分泌足够计量的胰岛素，以便于能够治愈人类糖尿病，如果你是只老鼠并患有糖尿病，那么你运气不错，我们能够帮到你。“

Gallicano is collaborating with Stephen Clement, director of the Georgetown Diabetes Center, on this technique.

       加里卡诺正在和另一个同行，乔治城糖尿病中心的主任史蒂芬卡莱门特合作。

Scientists have tried a number of means to cure Type 1 diabetes by giving patients with the disease new insulin-producing cells. These have included transplanting both fetal and adult cells, and coaxing embryonic stem cells to become beta-islet cells, according to the National Institutes of Health. Stem cells from embryonic tissue can differentiate to become many different types of specialized tissue. Adults have stem cells, too, but their potential is much more limited. 

       科学家们为治愈1型糖尿病通过输给患者体内新的胰岛分泌细胞，并且已经尝试了多种办法。根据国际健康研究部门可以得知，这些干细胞包括移植胎儿、成人、诱发胚胎干细胞，并使这些细胞变成胰岛B细胞。胚胎组织中的干细胞可以分化成各种类型的组织。成人也有干细胞，但是分化潜能有限。

Embryonic stem cell research has also been a politically sensitive topic, because it involves the destruction of a human embryo. Because of this, researchers have experimented with other techniques, such as this one, to turn adult cells into beta-islet cells. One involves coaxing adult cells back to an embryonic-like state by introducing new genes into them — however, these produce cancer, according to Gallicano.

        胚胎干细胞研究是一个政治敏感的话题，因为它涉及到人类胚胎的破坏。正因为此，研究者们只能使用其他的技术，例如成人干细胞转化胰岛细胞的方法。有一种通过转入新的基因在成人干细胞从而使成人干细胞重新回到胚胎状态的技术，然而，加里卡诺认为这种技术可诱发癌症。

The spermatogonial stem cells, as those from the testes are called, naturally differentiate into sperm cells, or they create more of themselves. They can be coaxed into an embryonic-like state without any additional genes, and after becoming insulin-producing cells, they produce less cancer than other methods, according to Gallicano.

        精原干细胞，由于其来源于睾丸而得名，可自然分化为精子，或者复制更多的精子。它们可不附加任何基因而被诱导为胚胎样细胞，然后变为胰岛素分泌细胞，加里卡诺说此方法比其它方法更少的诱发恶性肿瘤。

The researchers used cells from the testes of donors from the ages 16 through 57 and coaxed them back to an embryonic-like state, a two-week process. To convince the cells to become insulin producers, they exposed them to chemicals that stimulate differentiation at specific times over the course of about three weeks.

        研究者使用来自16岁到57岁的捐赠睾丸并且通过两周诱导，使它们变成胚胎样细胞。为了使这些细胞变成胰岛分泌细胞，他们将这些细胞暴露与化学试剂通过三周的特定过程诱导分化。

"What we are doing is trying to get these cells to think they are in an embryo and they are supposed to make islet cells," Gallicano told LiveScience.

       加里卡诺告诉生活科学杂志，“我们所做的就是试图使细胞变为胚胎样细胞，以此使它们能产生产胰岛素细胞。”

The fact that the new insulin-producing cells come from the patient himself means his immune system won't fight them as foreign intruders. However, it's not yet clear if the self-destructive nature of Type 1 diabetes will be a problem.

       新生成的产胰岛素细胞来自患者自身，这意味着他的免疫系统不会把它们当做外来物而攻击。但是，1型糖尿病自身免疫攻击是否会成为障碍现在仍然不清楚。

"We don't know yet if the immune system will destroy the cells because they have become islet-like cells," he said.  

       他说，”我们还不清楚免疫系统是否会由于转化细胞像胰岛细胞而消灭它们。“

A former high school student, Anirudh Saraswathula contributed to this research while working with Gallicano. Saraswathula, then a student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, was the first person to duplicate the results of the protocol Gallicano developed, he said. In May, Saraswathula's work placed third in a international science competition held in Chicago.

       一位高中学历学生，阿尼路达在同加里卡诺一起工作期间为研究做出了贡献。阿尼路达是一名弗吉尼亚州的托马斯杰佛逊高中科学技术方面的学生，他认为自己是第一个复制了加里卡诺方案成果的人，而且在五月份，他的研究还获得了芝加哥国际科学竞赛的第三名。