VOA慢速英語:New Research Hopes to Speed Development of HIV Vaccine

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語技術報道。

A team of scientists in the United States has created a new type of mouse that has an immune system similar to that of humans. The scientists hope their research with these mice will speed up development of a vaccine to prevent human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.

美國一組科學家研究出一種有著與人類免疫系統(tǒng)類似的新型鼠種?？茖W家希望他們研究的這些小鼠能加快人類免疫缺陷病毒疫苗或HIV疫苗的開發(fā)。

Scientists from the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard are carrying out the new research.

來自麻省綜合醫(yī)院拉根研究所，麻省理工大學和哈佛大學的科學家正在開展這項新研究。

Earlier research has shown that certain individuals with HIV have immune systems that do better at controlling the AIDS virus. These individuals are commonly known as "elite controllers." They often live longer with the virus and have fewer problems early on.

此前的研究表明，某些艾滋病人具備可以更好地控制艾滋病毒的免疫系統(tǒng)。這些人被稱為“精英控制器”。他們往往感染病毒后能比同類感染者活的更長，而且在前期很少發(fā)病。

Todd Allen is one of the lead writers of the new study, which was published in Science Translational Medicine.

托德·艾倫(Todd Allen)是該項新研究的主要編寫人之一，該項新研究發(fā)表在《科學轉化醫(yī)學》(Science Translational Medicine)雜志上。

TODD ALLEN: "Some people are able to control HIV very well, to very low copies. And what we know is that they express a certain type of host genetics that dictate that they target very critical regions of the virus."

艾倫：“有些人能夠將艾滋病毒控制的非常好，人數(shù)極少，而我們所知道的是，他們表現(xiàn)出的宿主基因是一種特定類型，這類宿主基因對付非常關鍵的病毒領域。”

By using the new experimental mice, the researchers hope to learn what it is about the immune systems of these "elite controllers" that causes them to deal with the HIV virus better than others.

通過新的實驗小鼠，研究人員希望了解讓這些“精英控制器”比其他艾滋病人更好地應對HIV病毒的免疫系統(tǒng)是什么。

The "humanized" mice were created using stem cells and tissues from human donors. Some of this tissue was taken from liver and thymus tissue. The thymus is a large gland at the bottom of the throat. It trains T-lymphocytes, or T-cells to attack unwelcome microbes, thereby protecting the body from infection.

“人化”小鼠是利用捐獻者的干細胞和組織創(chuàng)建的。該組織有些是取于肝臟和胸腺，胸腺是位于喉嚨底部的一塊大的腺體。它培養(yǎng)T淋巴細胞或T細胞來抵抗細菌，從而保護人體免受感染。

When the scientists infected the so-called "humanized" mice with the HIV virus, the T-cell reaction in the mice was the exact same as that of humans.

當科學家將所謂的“人化”小鼠感染上HIV，小鼠體內(nèi)的T細胞反應與人類完全相同。

Earlier research using rhesus monkeys helped scientists understand how the virus attacks cells. These monkeys were seen as good replacements for humans because they could be easily infected with a primate version of HIV, known as SIV.

早期研究用恒河猴幫助科學家了解病毒如何攻擊細胞。這些猴子被視為人類的良好替代品，因為他們可以很容易感染靈長類HIV，稱之為SIV。

However, genetic differences in the two versions of the virus and the immune systems suggested that the monkeys were not the best candidates for HIV research.

然而，病毒和免疫系統(tǒng)兩個類型的基因差異表明，猴子不是HIV研究的最佳選擇。

Todd Allen says the experiments with the new "humanized" mouse more correctly reflected what happens in humans with the AIDs virus

艾倫說，新的“人化”小鼠實驗，對感染艾滋病毒的人體內(nèi)發(fā)生的情況更準確地做出反映。

TODD ALLEN: "So it allows us to take all the discoveries we've had in studying individuals infected with HIV in the different immune responses and host genetics that correlate with a better outcome, and translate that now into an animal model where we can actually further manipulate that to understand exactly how these individuals are doing that."

艾倫：“因此，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在研究感染HIV的人，在不同的免疫反應中和宿主基因上的疑惑，都迎刃而解，而且現(xiàn)在轉化到動物模型中，我們可以進一步操作，以準確了解究竟這些人的免疫體統(tǒng)是怎樣運作的。”

Mr. Allen and the other researchers hope further studies with the "humanized" mouse will lead to an HIV vaccine.

艾倫和其他研究人員希望，對“人化”小鼠的進一步研究可以開發(fā)出HIV疫苗。