科学家有望治愈艾滋病

1Scientists Could be Closer to AIDS Cure

Since the start of the deadly AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, scientists have been working towards a cure.Now, they may be close to finding one.

自20世纪80年代开始流行以来，科学家一直都在努力寻找治疗方法。目前，他们可能有希望找到一种方法了。

Researchers have developed a method to cut the viral DNA from a person’s infected cells.It is called CRISPR/Cas9 and it means the person could be virus-free.

研究人员研发了一种方法，能够从人体受感染的细胞中切割病毒的DNA。该方法被称作是CRISPR/Cas9，意味着人可能不再受病毒感染。

DNA is a substance that carries genetic information in the cells of animals and plants.

DNA是动植物细胞中携带遗传信息的物质。

This gene-editing took place in a scientific lab, but has not been tested on humans yet.

此项基因编辑是在科学实验室中进行的，但还未在人体上进行试验。

It’s a big step, said Kamel Khalili, Ph.D.He is lead researcher and chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.He and his team made the discovery.

“这是一项巨大的进步。” Kamel Khalili博士说道。他是宾夕法尼亚州费城天普大学神经科学系首席研究员兼任系主任。这是他和团队共同的发现。

But more tests have to be done to know if it will be a cure for the millions of patients infected with the HIV virus, which causes AIDS.

但要想知道这是否能够治愈数百万感染HIV病毒（即引起艾滋病的病毒）的患者，仍需要进行更多测试。

Antiretroviral drugs have been doing a good job of keeping the AIDS virus from reproducing.Such a good job that levels of HIV are just about undetectable in infected people who take the medicine.

抗逆转录药物能够有效防止艾滋病病毒复制再生。其效果非常好，感染人群服用药物之后几乎测试不出其体内的HIV水平。

But even with the drugs, the virus stays in the body’s "T-cells," which are T-lymphocytes.AIDS damages the immune system, hurting the body’s ability to fight off disease.

但是即使服用了药物，HIV病毒仍然存在于人体的T淋巴细胞中。艾滋病会损伤免疫系统治愈艾滋病，降低人体抵抗疾病的能力。

So the drugs are kind of a "Band-Aid solution," Khalili explained.They keep the virus from growing.But they do not eliminate the memory of the virus from the cells.

Khalili解释道，因此药物就是一种紧急补救的方法。药物能够抑制病毒继续生长。但并不能消除细胞中的病毒。

And, the moment antiretroviral drugs are stopped,the HIV comes back to life and begins making more HIV, which is the AIDS virus.

此外，停止使用抗逆转录药物之后，HIV病毒就会重新复活，产生更多艾滋病病毒，即HIV。

Khalili and his team of scientists appear to have found a way to cut this viral DNA from infected people’s cells.

Khalili及其科学家团队似乎已经发现一种从受感染人体中截取病毒DNA的方法。

In their lab, they took cells from people infected with the HIV virus.They removed the part of the cell that was holding the virus.

他们在实验室中，从感染HIV病毒的人体中获取细胞。并移去细胞中含有病毒的部分。

He said they had "in some cases, near 90 percent of the virus replication or production dropped in the patient samples after treatment in the laboratory.“

他们表示，某些案例中，接受实验室治疗之后，患者样本中病毒的复制下降了接近90%。

Khalili and his team have not actually cured any patients yet.However, he believes this gene-editing technology could possibly cure AIDS.

Khalili及其团队还未治愈任何患者。但是，他相信这种基因编辑的技术很有可能治愈艾滋病。

Elimination of the virus can lead to the cure.He said, "it’s an exciting time, and the reason is the technologies are available and the methods are in place and our knowledge has increased.“

“除去病毒就有望治好艾滋病。”他说道，“这是激动人心的时刻治愈艾滋病，原因是有技术、有方法，我们的知识也在不断增加。”

And hopefully, there will be funding to take us toward this exciting moment for developing the cure strategy by eliminating viral DNA using editing techniques.

“很有希望，有足够的资金带我们走向那个激动人心的时刻，通过基因编辑技术，找出治疗方法。”

He said that he hopes human tests could begin in two to three years.But that depends on funding.

他表示希望两三年之后能够进行人体测试。但这也需要资金支持。

The work was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

该项目发表在期刊《科技报道》上。

HIV/AIDS has been a devastating disease since it was first discovered in the early 1980s.Since then, the World Health Organization says almost 78 million people have been infected with the HIV virus.About 39 million people have died of HIV/AIDS.

自20世纪80年代首次发现艾滋病起，HIV病毒/艾滋病一直都是毁灭性的。从那时起，世界卫生组织表示约有7800万人感染了HIV病毒。大约有3900万人死于艾滋病。

At the end of 2013, 35 million people worldwide were living with HIV, according to the WHO.

据世界卫生组织报道，到2013年年底，全球约有3500万人携带有HIV病毒。

Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected by the virus.Nearly 71 percent of people in the world who live with HIV are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

撒哈拉以南的非洲地区是HIV病毒感染率最高的地区。全球感染HIV病毒的人群中有71%居住在撒哈拉以南的非洲地区。

And while the drug therapy can control the virus, not everyone infected can get or afford it.Also, some who take it report side effects.

尽管药物治疗可以控制病毒，但并非所有感染病毒的人都能够支付药物费用。此外，有人服用药物之后出现了不良反应。

I’m Anne Ball.

Anne Ball为您报道。