TED演讲 获奖青少年,科技在行动(4)

 So ovarian cancer is one of those cancers that most people don't know about, 卵巢癌是大多数人所不了解的癌症之一，

or at least don't pay that much attention to. 或者至少说没有怎么注意。

But yet, it's the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. 但是，它是导致全美女性死亡的第五大癌症。

In fact, one in 70 women will be diagnosed¹ with ovarian cancer. One in 100 will die from it. 实际上，在70位女性中就有一位会被确诊为卵巢癌，在100位中就有一位会因此而死亡。

Chemotherapy, one of the most effective ways used to treat cancer today, 化疗，是现今治疗癌症最有效的方式之一，

involves giving patients really high doses of chemicals to try and kill off cancer cells. 包括给病患者高剂量的化学物质意图杀死癌症细胞。

Cisplatin is a relatively² common ovarian cancer chemotherapy drug 顺铂是较常见的一种治疗卵巢癌的药

-- a relatively simple molecule³ made in the lab that messes with the DNA⁴ of cancer cells and causes them to kill themselves. --在实验室中能合成的较简单的分子它能够捣毁癌症细胞的DNA，促使它们杀死它们自己。

Sounds great, right? But here's the problem: 挺起来很棒，是吧？但是有个问题:

sometimes patients become resistant⁵ to the drug, 有些时候，病人们会对药产生抗药性，

and then years after they've been declared to be cancer free, they come back. 许多年后，在癌症被除去之后又重新患上 。

And this time, they no longer respond to the drug. 但是这次，病人们不会再对药物产生反应。

It's a huge problem. In fact, it's one of the biggest problems with chemotherapy today. 这是个大问题实际上，这是现今化疗所面临的最大的问题之一。

So we wanted to figure out how these ovarian cancer cells are becoming resistant to this drug called Cisplatin. 我们想清楚的是卵巢癌细胞是如何对这种叫顺铂的药产生抗药性。

And we wanted to figure this out, because if we could figure that out, 我们之所以想知道这个，是因为如果我们把这个搞清楚了，

then we might be able to prevent that resistance from ever happening. 我们可能可以预防抗药性的发生。

So that's what we set out to do. 所以这就是我们要做的。

And we thought it had something to do with this protein called AMP kinase, an energy protein. 我们认为跟一种叫做AMP的激酶蛋白有关，一种能量蛋白。

So we ran all of these tests blocking the protein, and we saw this huge shift. 我们进行了很多实验来阻止这种蛋白，我们发现了巨大的改变。

I mean, on the slide, you can see that on our sensitive side, these cells that are responding to the drug, 我的意思是，在幻灯片上，你可以看到在我们敏感细胞里，这些对药产生反应的细胞，

when we start blocking the protein, the number of dying cells -- those colored dots -- they're going down. 当我们开始阻止这种蛋白，死亡细胞的数量--这些有颜色的点--开始下降。

But then on this side, with the same treatment, they're going up -- interesting. 但是，在这边，同样的治疗方式，数量在上升--真有趣。

 

1 diagnosed   

诊断( diagnose的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Some foetal malformations cannot be diagnosed until late in pregnancy. 有些胎儿的畸形部位得等到妊娠后期才能诊断出来。
• He diagnosed the trouble that caused the engine to knock. 他找出了引擎咔咔响的毛病所在。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

4 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

5 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。