2020年经济学人 免疫学—初绿萌芽(2)（在线收听）

In the second study, scientists led by Tao Dong, an immunologist at the Medical Research Council (MRC), in Britain, went hunting for T-cells.

在第二个研究中，由英国医学研究委员会（MRC）免疫学者Tao Dong带领的科学家团队在寻找T细胞。

These get less press than antibodies, but play an equally vital role in battling infections and securing long-term protection.

这些比抗体受到的关注少，但在对抗感染和获得长期保护方面发挥着同样重要的作用。

(Their importance is vividly demonstrated by HIV, which targets and kills them.)

（HIV生动展现了它们的总要性，HIV的目标是找到并杀死它们。）

As described in Nature Immunology, the researchers compared blood samples from 28 mild

正如在《自然免疫学》中所述，研究人员对比了28名轻度

and 14 severely ill covid-19 patients, as well as 16 healthy donors.

和14名重症新冠患者以及16名健康捐献者的血液样本。

The paper describes a "robust" T-cell response in infected people and, as with the Icelandic work,

该论文描述了感染人群中T细胞的“强劲”反应，以及和冰岛的研究一样，

different responses in those who developed mild and severe cases of the illness.

轻重病症患者的不同反应。

Specifically, mild cases were characterised by more CD8+ cells, which kill infected cells directly, rather than CD4+ ones,

具体来说，轻度病例的特征是更多的CD8+细胞，它们直接杀死感染细胞，而不是CD4+细胞，

which regulate the immune response more generally. The MRC study found T-cells that could recognise eight separate parts of the virus,

调节免疫反应的细胞。MRC研究发现，T细胞能够识别这种病毒的八个不同部分，

including the spike protein that allows it to penetrate human cells. That target list could offer useful hints for refining vaccines in future.

包括让其渗透人类细胞的纤突蛋白。这一目标清单可以为今后改进疫苗提供有用的线索。

Al Edwards, an immunologist turned biochemical engineer at the University of Reading (who was not involved with either paper), is cautiously optimistic.

从免疫学家转行为雷丁大学生化工程师的Al Edwards（他没有参与这两篇论文的撰写）对此持谨慎乐观态度。

The immune response to the disease seems to be working roughly as expected, he says.

免疫系统对这种疾病的反应似乎和预期的大致一样。

If that continues, then vaccines developed to trigger long-lasting immunity should work—at least in theory.

如果继续下去，那么研制出能够触发长期免疫的疫苗应该会起作用——至少在理论上是这样。

In practice, it is still too early to celebrate. Dr Edwards warns that immunology has never been a predictive science.

实际上，现在庆祝还为时过早。Edwards博士警告称免疫学从来就不是一门预测科学。

There is no test that can show definitively that a vaccine will work short of actually trying it in the real world.

没有任何测试可以明确表明，在缺乏现实尝试的情况下，疫苗能够发挥作用。