VOA标准英语2012--Stem Cell Therapy Effective Against HIV Virus in Mice

Stem Cell Therapy Effective Against HIV Virus in Mice

"The actual stem cells were injected in my arm, said Diana Souza.

Diana Souza says stem cell therapy helped restore full use of her severely¹ fractured arm.

“It is a miracle. It does work. And I have a good arm to prove it," she said.

Stem cell therapy works by providing new cells to replace the diseased cells and tissues. 

At the California Institute of Regenerative Cures, Joseph Anderson is working on stem cell therapy for HIV infection. So far, he has been working with mice - replacing their immune systems with stem cells engineered with a triple combination of HIV-resistant² genes³. 

"They were able to block HIV infection, maintain a normal immune system in the mice, even though the virus was still there," said Joseph Anderson. "The resistant immune cells were able to maintain a normal immune cell level and maintain a functional⁴ immune system.

Anderson says this could provide a possible cure for people who are infected with HIV and have a severely compromised immune system. He says the genetically⁶-engineered stem cells will help them maintain a normal immune system through genetic⁵ resistance just as in the case of the mice.

“If it moves forward in human clinical trials we would be able to maintain a normal human immune system in patients that have HIV infection," he said. "Hopefully they will be able to stop taking antiretroviral drugs that they normally take because the genetically resistant stem cells will be able to fight off the virus in the body of the patients.”

Scientists working on this project say that, ideally, this would be a one-time treatment of stem cells charged with HIV-resistant genes. They hope that would generate an entire HIV-resistant immune system - making it possible to take patients off the antiretroviral drugs. 

1 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

2 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。

3 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

4 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

5 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

6 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物