叶塞尼亚经典配音:生物合成角膜恢复人类视力或优于捐赠的人眼角膜 - 丁香园论坛

Seeing the World With New Eyes: Biosynthetic Corneas Restore Vision in Humans

用新的眼睛看世界：生物合成角膜恢复人类视力

译者：Docofsoul

ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2010) — A new study from researchers in Canada and Sweden has shown that biosynthetic corneas can help regenerate and repair damaged eye tissue and improve vision in humans. The results, from an early phase clinical trial with 10 patients, are published in the August 25th, 2010 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

《每日科学》2010年8月25日报道 —— 一项由来自加拿大与瑞典的研究者完成的研究业已显示生物合成角膜可有助于再生并修复受损的人眼组织及改善视力。这项有10名患者参与的早期临床实验的结果发表于2010年8月25号的《Science Translational Medicine》（《科学•转化医学》）。


Dr. May Griffith displays a biosynthetic cornea that can be implanted into the eye to repair damage and restore sight. (Credit: Photo courtesy of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute)
May Griffith博士显示一片可置入眼睛修复损伤并恢复视力的生物合成角膜（图片来源：渥太华医院研究所）

"This study is important because it is the first to show that an artificially fabricated cornea can integrate with the human eye and stimulate regeneration," said senior author Dr. May Griffith of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, the University of Ottawa and Linköping University. "With further research, this approach could help restore sight to millions of people who are waiting for a donated human cornea for transplantation."

第一作者、渥太华医院研究所、渥太华大学与瑞典林雪平大学的May Griffith博士说：“本研究之所以重要，是因为首次显示了人工合成角膜能够与人眼结合并刺激（角膜）再生。进一步的研究将使该方法能够帮助恢复数百万正在等待人眼角膜捐赠、再植的人的视力。”

The cornea is a thin transparent layer of collagen and cells that acts as a window into the eyeball. It must be completely transparent to allow the light to enter and it also helps with focus. Globally, diseases that lead to clouding of the cornea represent the most common cause of blindness. More than a decade ago, Dr. Griffith and her colleagues began developing biosynthetic corneas in Ottawa, Canada, using collagen produced in the laboratory and moulded into the shape of a cornea. After extensive laboratory testing, Dr. Griffith began collaborating with Dr. Per Fagerholm, an eye surgeon at Linköping University in Sweden, to provide the first-in-human experience with biosynthetic cornea implantation.

角膜是一层薄薄的透明胶原蛋白层，是眼睛的窗口。角膜必须完全透明以允许光线进入眼睛，并且角膜也有助于眼睛的聚集。在全球范围内，导致角膜混浊的疾病代表着最常见的失明的病因。十多年前，Griffith博士及其同事开始在渥太华开发生物合成角膜，他们使用实验室生产的胶原蛋白并模制，使之形成角膜形状。在广泛的实验室测试后，Griffith博士开始与瑞典林雪平大学的眼科医生Per Fagerholm博士合作，提供首次人类生物合成角膜移植实验。

Together, they initiated a clinical trial in 10 Swedish patients with advanced keratoconus or central corneal scarring. Each patient underwent surgery on one eye to remove damaged corneal tissue and replace it with the biosynthetic cornea, made from synthetically cross-linked recombinant human collagen.

他们共同开始了一项有10个瑞典患者参与的临床实验，这些患者或已经处于圆锥角膜晚期，或罹患中心性角膜瘢痕。每个患者的一只眼睛接受手术，移除受损的角膜组织并用生物合成角膜代替之。 生物角膜由合成交联重组的人类胶原蛋白制成。

Over two years of follow-up, the researchers observed that cells and nerves from the patients' own corneas had grown into the implant, resulting in a "regenerated" cornea that resembled normal, healthy tissue. Patients did not experience any rejection reaction or require long-term immune suppression, which are serious side effects associated with the use of human donor tissue.

在两年的随访过程中，研究者观察到：来自患者本身角膜的细胞与神经已生长并进入了移植物，产生了类似正常、健康组织的“再生”角膜。患者并未经历过免疫排斥反应或需要长期的免疫抑制。而免疫排斥与免疫抑制正是应用捐赠的人类角膜必然伴随的严重副作用。

The biosynthetic corneas also became sensitive to touch and began producing normal tears to keep the eye oxygenated. Vision improved in six of the ten patients, and after contact lens fitting, vision was comparable to conventional corneal transplantation with human donor tissue.

生物合成角膜也对触觉敏感，并开始产生正常的眼泪以保持眼睛充氧状态。10名患者中有6名视力得到改善；并且，在用接触型隐形眼镜矫正后，视力可与接受捐赠的人类角膜的传统移植手术后相应视力改善情形相媲美。

"We are very encouraged by these results and by the great potential of biosynthetic corneas," said Dr. Fagerholm. "Further biomaterial enhancements and modifications to the surgical technique are ongoing, and new studies are being planned that will extend the use of the biosynthetic cornea to a wider range of sight-threatening conditions requiring transplantation."

Fagerholm 博士说：“这些结果使我们深受鼓舞，而其中所表现出的生物合成角膜的巨大潜力也让我们振奋不已。生物材料的进一步改良与手术技巧的进一步改进正在进行，并且新的研究也在酝酿之中。新的研究旨在大力拓展生物合成角膜的应用范围，使之广泛应用于威胁视力的一系列需要移植的疾病中。”

This research was supported by grants from the Canadian Stem Cell Network, the Swedish Research Council and County of Östergötland and a European Union Marie Curie

本研究得到加拿大干细胞网络、瑞典研究协会与奥斯特古特兰县以及欧盟玛丽•居里基金会一家单位的资金支持。

International Fellowship. Initial work in developing the biosynthetic corneas was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Recombinant human collagen type III used in formulating the biosynthetic corneas for the clinical study was provided by FibroGen, Inc., San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.

国际伙伴关系： 开发生物角膜的最初的工作得到了加拿大国家科学与工程研究会以及加拿大健康研究院支持。本临床研究所涉及的生物合成角膜，其制作中用到的III型重组人类胶原蛋白由美国加州旧金山FibroGen公司提供。

Dr. May Griffith is a Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Professor at the University of Ottawa (Faculty of Medicine) and Professor of Regenerative Medicine and Director of the Integrative Regenerative Medicine Centre at Linköping University. Dr. Per Fagerholm is a Professor of Ophthalmology at Linköping University. Dr. Neil Lagali is a senior lecturer at Linköping University. Other authors are listed in the paper.

May Griffith博士是渥太华医院研究所的资深科学家、渥太华大学教授与再生医学教授、林雪平大学整合再生医学中心主任；Per Fagerholm博士为林雪平大学眼科学教授；Neil Lagali博士是林雪平大学资深讲师。其他作者列于论文作者栏。

（Docofsoul 译于2010-08-26）