Curing HIV 治疗艾滋病

A second case of someone probably cured of HIV has been reported {第二例艾滋病可能被治愈的实际个案}

The treatment tailors stem-cell transplants intended for leukaemia {该治疗方法适用于白血病的干细胞移植}

ESTABLISHED HIV infection is easy to control but impossible to cure. Or almost impossible. The exception seems to be Timothy Brown, a man often referred to as the Berlin patient. In 2006, after a decade of successfully suppressing his infection with antiretroviral drugs, Mr Brown developed an unrelated blood cancer, acute myeloid leukaemia. To treat this life-threatening condition he opted, the following year, for a blood-stem-cell transplant. And, at the same time, he volunteered as a guinea pig for an experimental anti-HIV treatment, which worked. Now, a team of doctors in London have reported a similar case.

【Refer to as 把…称作…】【Suppress/sə'pres/ vt. 压制; 镇压；禁止发表, 查禁; 隐瞒；抑制(感情等】

【Antiretroviral adj.抗逆转录病毒的，抗后病毒的】【Myeloid /'maɪəlɒɪd/ adj. 骨髓的；骨髓状的；由骨髓而来的；脊髓的】

【Leukaemia/lju'ki:miə/ n. 〈医〉白血病】【Myeloid leukemia 骨髓性白血病；粒细胞性白血病】

【Acute myeloid leukemia 急性骨髓性白血病】【Guinea pig [动] 天竺鼠；豚鼠（可以引申为：小白鼠，实验对象，供试验之用的人）】

{已确定的艾滋病（HIV）感染很容易控制，但不可治愈。或者说几乎不可治愈。蒂莫西·布朗似乎是个例外，他经常被称为柏林病人。2006年，抗反转录病毒药物成功抑制住了他的感染十年后，布朗患上了一种不相关的血癌—急性髓性白血病。为了治疗这种有生命威胁的疾病，第二年他决定做血干细胞移植手术。与此同时，他自愿成为试验性抗艾滋病病毒治疗的小白鼠，而这种治疗起作用了。现在，伦敦的一组医生也报道一个相似的案例。}

Blood-stem-cell transplantation is an established, though extreme, treatment for various sorts of blood cancer. Stem cells are the precursors from which particular tissues grow. Blood-stem-cell transplantation involves using drugs (backed up, in Mr Brown’s case, by radiotherapy) to kill a patient’s natural blood-producing tissue, the bone marrow, and then transfusing in new stem cells from a donor.

【Transplantation /ˌtrænspl ɑ:nˈteɪʃən/ n. 移植;移植法；移居,移民】【Precursor /prɪ'kɜːsə/ n. 先驱;先行者;先兆,前兆；初期形式】

【Back upvi. (因积聚而)拥堵, 堵塞vt. 支持, 援助, 倒退, （资料）备份】【Radiotherapy/ˌreɪdɪə(ʊ)'θerəpɪ/ n. 放射疗法】

【Marrow/'mærəʊ/ n. 髓，骨髓；精华；活力】【Transfuse /træns'fjuːz/ vt. 输(血或别的液体); 渗透; 使…被灌输或传达】

{血干细胞移植，虽然极端，但它是一种已确定的血癌治疗方法。干细胞是特定组织生长处的前体细胞。血干细胞移植需要使用药物（在布朗的案例中是通过放射疗法）杀死病人的自带造血组织—骨髓，然后输入一名捐赠者的新干细胞。}

So far, so normal. But Mr Brown, at the suggestion of his doctors, chose from among the 267 possible tissue-matched donors one who had inherited from both parents a mutation that, in healthy people, prevents HIV infection in the first place.(The mutation in question alters one of the proteins the virus attaches itself to when entering a cell.) After two such transplants Mr Brown was cleared of the leukaemia and, as far as it is possible to tell, HIV had stopped replicating in his body.

【Mutation/mjuː'teɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 突变；变化；元音变化】【Replicate /'replɪkeɪt/ vt. 复制;重复】

{到目前为止，一切正常。但布朗在医生的建议下，从267名组织可能匹配的捐赠者中进行选择，这些捐赠者从他们父母身上继承了一种突变，在健康人体内，这种突变首先就可以预防HIV感染。（上述突变，在病毒进入一个细胞时改变了病毒附着的蛋白质之一。）经过两次移植后，布朗体内的白血病被清除，或许可以说，他体内的HIV病毒已经停止复制了。}

The newly reported patient, treated by Ravindra Gupta of University College, London, and his colleagues, had Hodgkin’s lymphoma and underwent a stem-cell transplant for this in 2016. As in Mr Brown’s case, the cell donor had inherited the protective mutation from both parents. Sixteen months later, as they describe in Nature, the patient’s doctors withdrew the HIV-controlling drugs and watched. There was no resurgence of the virus, as would be usual if those drugs were withdrawn from any other HIV patient. Nor has there been any change in the patient’s HIV status in the 18 months since the drugs’ withdrawal.

【Lymphoma /lɪm'fəʊmə/ n. [医]淋巴瘤】【Withdraw/wɪð'drɔː/ v. 取[收]回; (使)撤退[出]】【Resurgence/ri'sə:dʒəns/ n. 复苏】

{最新报道中的病人，由伦敦大学学院的Ravindra Gupta及同事进行治疗，这名病人患有霍奇金氏淋巴瘤并且在2016年因此接受干细胞移植。如布朗的案例一样，这名细胞捐赠者从父母那里继承了保护性突变。16个月后，正如他们在《自然》期刊中所述，这名病人的医生撤回了控制HIV的药并进行观察。病毒没有复苏，通常撤回其他HIV病人的用药后，病毒会再复苏。自停药以来的18个月内，病人体内的HIV状态也没有发生任何变化。}

In cases like this doctors are loth to use the word “cured”, since the future is unpredictable and the mechanism involved serves only to break HIV’s reproductive chain, not to purge the virus from the body entirely. They talk instead of patients being “in remission”. Nevertheless, the experience of the person who will probably come to be known as the London patient is important. It shows that Mr.Brown’s case was not a fluke, which gives comfort to those working on the idea of editing protective mutations into stem cells drawn from people with HIV, and then returning the edited cells to the patient. This would avoid the risks of rejection that come with transplants from donors.

【Be loth to 不情愿，不喜欢】【Unpredictable /ʌnprɪ'dɪktəb(ə)l/ adj. 无法预言的, 不可预测的；捉摸不透的, 反复无常的】

【Remission/rɪ'mɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 缓和, 减轻】【Fluke /fluːk/ n. 侥幸；锚爪；意外的挫折v. 侥幸成功；意外受挫】

{在类似案例中，医生都不愿使用“被治愈”这一词，因为未来不可测而且其中涉及的机理仅起到了打破HIV再生链的作用，并非完全清除了体内的病毒。因而他们说病人在“缓解期”。然而，这个可能将被称为伦敦病人的经历非常重要。他的经历表明布朗的案例并非侥幸。对于那些致力于将保护性突变编辑进HIV患者的干细胞中，然后将干细胞输送回病人体内的工作人员而言，这给了他们安慰。这将避免捐赠者移植出现排斥的风险。}

Most researchers in the field are proceeding cautiously, testing their results on mice, and with some success. But this is an area that can encourage overreach. 

【Overreach /əʊvə'riːtʃ/ vt. 因过于雄心勃勃而失败】

该领域的大部分研究人员正在谨慎地继续在老鼠身上测试他们的结果，并且取得了一些成功。但这是一个可以鼓励试错的领域。

Such overreach aside, even if the editing of blood stem cells could be made to work reliably, transplanting them back into people would probably remain a rare procedure—for the methods used to kill a patient’s existing bone marrow make such transplantation dangerous in and of itself. But it would at least be available as a treatment of last resort for those with forms of HIV that have developed resistance to drugs. And that would save some lives.

【Resistance/rɪ'zɪst(ə)ns/ n. 抵抗, 反抗, 抵抗能力】

抛开这种试错不说，即便血干细胞的编辑实施可靠，将它们移植到人体中也可能是一个罕见的过程—，因为就其本身而言，用于杀死病人体内现有骨髓的方法让这种移植非常危险。但它至少可以用作抗药HIV病人的最后治疗手段。这将拯救一些人的性命。

值得借鉴的句型与表达：

1. ESTABLISHED HIV infection is easy to control but impossible to cure.

2. To treat this life-threatening conditionhe  opted, the following year, for a blood-stem-cell transplant.

3.So far, so normal. 

4. In cases like this doctors are loth to use the word “cured”

5. It shows that Mr.Brown’s case was not a fluke, which gives comfort to those working on the idea