12年前,一位在德国接受治疗的美国男子成为世界首例艾滋病病毒携带者被治愈的病例。
12年后艾滋病治愈,科学家们宣布,一名伦敦男子有望成为全球第二例被治愈的艾滋病病人。
12年来,科学家们一直试图复制蒂莫西·雷·布朗(Timothy Ray Brown)(医学界称其为“柏林病人”)的治疗方法来治愈其他艾滋病病人,但都以失败告终。如今,这位被称为“伦敦病人”的艾滋病病毒携带者有望被治愈。
近日,多家外媒对这个医学界的最新成果进行了报道。
An HIV-positive man in Britain has becomethe second known adult worldwide to be cleared of the AIDS virusafter he received a bone marrow transplant from an HIV resistant donor, his doctors said.
在接受了含抗HIV基因的骨髓移植后,一位艾滋病病毒检测呈阳性的英国男子成为全球第二例艾滋病病毒被清除的感染者。
Almost three years after receiving bone marrow stem cells from a donor witha rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection- and more than 18 months after coming off antiretroviral drugs - highly sensitive tests still show no trace of the man’s previous HIV infection.
这名男子大约三年前接受了骨髓干细胞移植。骨髓干细胞的捐献者有着罕见的抗艾滋病病毒的基因突变。在停止使用艾滋病抗病毒药物18个月后,高敏度测试也没有发现这名男子此前的艾滋病感染迹象。
"There is no virus there that we can measure. We can't detect anything," said Ravindra Gupta, a professor and HIV biologist who co-led a team of doctors treating the man.
“他体内没有我们所能检测到的病毒,我们没能检测到任何病毒,”这名男子的治疗团队的领队之一,艾滋病生物学家Ravindra Gupta说道。
The case is a proof of the concept that scientists will one day be able to end AIDS, the doctors said, but does not mean a cure for HIV has been found.
有观点认为,科学家终有一天能终结艾滋病,这个病例证明这个观点是正确的。但这尚未能说明人类已经找到治愈艾滋的疗法。
Gupta described his patient as "functionally cured" and "in remission", but cautioned: "It’s too early to say he's cured."
Gupta把他的病人描述为“功能上治愈”以及“得到缓解”,但警告说“说他被治愈还为时过早。”
London HIV patient becomes world's second AIDS cure hope (via Reuters)
这项最新的医学成果被刊登在了英国《自然》杂志上。
Publicly, the scientists are describing the case as along-term remission. In interviews, most experts are calling it a cure, with the caveat that it is hard to know how to define the word when there are only two known instances.
公开场合,科学家称这个病例为长期缓解。在采访中,大部分专家将其称为治愈,并补充说因为仅有两个病例,很难把握如何来定义治愈。
Both milestones resulted from bone-marrow transplants given to infected patients. Butthe transplants were intended to treat cancer in the patients, not H.I.V.
这两个里程碑式的医学成果都源自对感染者的骨髓移植。但移植的本来目的在于治疗病人的癌症而非艾滋病病毒。
Bone-marrow transplantation is unlikely to be a realistic treatment option in the near future. Powerful drugs are now available to control H.I.V. infection, while the transplants are risky, with harsh side effects that can last for years.
骨髓移植将来也不太可能成为现实的治疗手段。对控制艾滋病病毒有强大药效的药物是可以获取的,而骨髓移植具有风险性,还有严重的副作用,这些副作用可能持续数年。
H.I.V. Is Reported Cured in a Second Patient, a Milestone in the Global AIDS Epidemic (via New York Times)
(图via The Washington Post)
The latest case was in an HIV-positive patient with advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma who received a transplant of hematopoietic stem cells from a donor withtwo copies of the so-called CCR5 gene mutation-- the same one allegedly edited by He Jiankui that led to the birth of the world’s first gene-edited babies last year.
在最新的这个病例中,艾滋病病毒呈阳性的病人接受了造血干细胞移植艾滋病治愈,而造血干细胞的捐献者具有两套所谓的CCR5基因突变——和去年主导了世界首例基因编辑婴儿出生的贺建奎所编辑的是同一个基因。
"Coming 10 years after the successful report of the 'Berlin Patient,' this new case confirms that bone marrow transplantation from a CCR5-negative donor can eliminate residual virus and stop any traces of virus from rebounding," said Sharon Lewin, director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne, in a statement.
“在‘柏林病人’的成功报告发布后10年(迎来了新一例的成功病例),这个新的病例确认了来自CCR5阴性捐献者的骨髓移植可以消除残留的病毒,并阻止该病毒的任何反弹迹象,”墨尔本大学杜赫蒂感染及免疫研究院的Sharon Lewin在一份声明中说。
HIV Patient's Remission Spurs Hope for Curing AIDS-Causing Virus (via Bloomberg)
这位选择保持匿名的病人被称为“伦敦病人”。他近日接受了纽约时报的采访。
"I feel a sense of responsibility to help the doctors understand how it happened so they can develop the science," he told The New York Timesin an email.
“我感到有职责帮助医生弄明白这一切是怎么发生的,那样他们就可以发展这门科学,”他在邮件中告诉纽约时报。
Learning that he could be cured of both cancer and H.I.V. infection was "surreal" and "overwhelming," he added. "I never thought that there would be a cure during my lifetime."
当他得知,他的癌症和艾滋病病毒可以同时被治愈时,他感到难以置信。“我从没想过在我的有生之年可以得到治愈。”
H.I.V. Is Reported Cured in a Second Patient, a Milestone in the Global AIDS Epidemic (via New York Times)
除了“伦敦病人”,还有其他病人也在接受相同的治疗。
A set of “Boston patients,” who received stem cell transplants with functioning CCR5 genes, also experienced marked reductions in the reservoir of HIV in their cells and were able to go without treatment for months, showing that the transplant itself played a role in knocking back the virus. But their temporary results also suggested thatthe aberrant gene was necessary for a sustained cure.
还有一组“波士顿病人”接受了含正常CCR5基因的骨髓移植。他们细胞内的艾滋病病毒也减少了,并且可以停止接受治疗达数月之久。这显示了移植本身在抗病毒方面起到了作用。但是他们这种临时的疗效也暗示了这种异常基因是持续治愈所必需的。
Despite efforts to replicate the remarkable Berlin results, researchers had failed for a decade — in part because the possibility of doing such transplants is rare. Stem cell transplants are risky and are only attempted when there is a clinical reason to do them, such as cancer.
过去10年间,研究者们一直想复制“柏林病人”病例,却屡屡失败,部分原因是因为进行这种移植的可能性比较小。干细胞移植有风险,而且只有在有临床需要的情况下才会尝试,比如癌症。
Donors must be a genetic match to recipients, and there are very few people who naturally carry two copies of the disabled CCR5 gene, which limits the number of potential transplants.
捐献者必须与接受骨髓移植的病人基因相配,而且很少有人天生携带两套发生突变的CCR5基因,这就限制了潜在的移植的数量。
Several patients who have received such transplants since Brown’s successful treatment have died of the underlying cancer, several HIV researchers noted.
多位艾滋病研究者表示,在布朗的治疗成功后,好几位接受了这种移植的病人死于癌症复发。
That doesn't diminish excitement about the new case from the research community, which has become interested in using gene therapy to disable the CCR5 gene by using other technologies, including the gene-editing technology CRISPR.
但这些情况并没有浇灭研究界对这个最新病例的兴致。科学界目前对使用其它技术破坏CCR5基因的基因疗法很感兴趣,包括使用CRISPR基因编辑技术。
A decade after the first person was cured of HIV, a second patient is in long-term remission (via The Washington Post)
整合:Du Qiongfang