Should you donate your DNA to help cure diseases? - Greg Foot

翻译人员: Jiasi Hao 校对人员: Wanting Zhong

So here’s the thing: developing a new drug and getting it to you

大家都知道：一种新药从研发到上市

can take a long time.

需要花费很长时间。

When we have to work out the cause of a condition—

当我们还要研究病因时

for example, with multiple sclerosis or heart disease—

（例如多发性硬化症或心脏病），

developing a new drug takes significant trial and error and lots of money.

研发新药就需要大量的试错和资金。 【只有百分之四的药物能通过开发】

【一次几百万美元，由我们支付】

Which is why we only have drugs for a small proportion of diseases.

这也是为什么 只有少部分疾病有治疗药物。

But you could change all this.

但你可以改变现状。

You could help discover new, cheaper drugs for currently untreatable diseases.

你的一臂之力能有助于 为目前的不治之症发现更便宜的新药。

It's all about medical crowdsourcing.

这一切都与医疗众筹相关。

However, researchers aren’t asking you to donate your money,

不过研究人员并不是要让你捐钱，

they’re asking you to donate something more personal...

而是想请你捐出某件更私人的东西……

First, though, some drug development history.

不过首先，让我们回顾一下 药物研发的历史。

Many of the first medicines were discovered by chance.

许多最早的药物都是偶然发现的。

Natural philosophers then took these

自然哲学家们随后鉴定出了 其中的活性成分。

and identified the active chemicals inside.

And pharmaceutical companies then turned those into drugs.

之后药企再把这些成分制作成药。

The thing is, for a long time, we didn’t know why those drugs worked.

可问题是，在很长一段时间里， 我们并不知道这些药为什么会起效。

Until scientists figured out that disease happens when the molecular machines

直到科学家们发现， 当保持你身体运作的分子机器，

that keep your body going— your proteins— start misbehaving.

即蛋白质，开始作祟的时候， 你就会生病。

Drugs treat disease by targeting those disruptive proteins.

药品通过靶向作用于 那些破坏性蛋白质来治疗疾病。

Researchers realized that if they can identify

研究人员意识到，如果他们可以辨别

which malfunctioning proteins cause a specific disease,

哪些功能失常的蛋白质 能引起某种特定疾病，

they can then try to find or develop a drug

他们就可以尝试寻找或发明一种

that stops those proteins acting up, and that will prevent the disease.

能阻止那些蛋白质作怪的药， 从而预防疾病。

It’s a great plan, but it’s a slow process.

这是一个很棒的计划， 但过程漫长。

So far, they’ve only identified these therapeutic targets

至今，科学家们只识别了 很小一部分疾病的药物靶点。

for a small proportion of diseases.

However, this is where you can help.

不过这就是你能帮忙的地方。

Researchers are now turning their attention to DNA,

研究人员现在将注意力转向了 DNA：

to the genetic instruction manual that tells our bodies how to make our proteins.

DNA 是一份指导我们身体 如何生产蛋白质的遗传说明书。

They want to know which small changes in someone’s genome

他们想知道基因组中有哪些微小变化

can lead to the production of those dodgy proteins that cause a disease.

会导致生成有缺陷的蛋白质， 从而引发疾病。

The thing is, that’s a big job.

这可是一项浩大的工程。

DNA is huge, and each disease is likely to have hundreds, possibly thousands,

DNA 存储了大量信息， 【DNA 全长 30 亿个字母】

而且每一种疾病都可能涉及上百， 甚至上千个蛋白质。

of proteins involved.

But if they have lots of people’s genomes, they can compare them and spot patterns.

但如果研究人员有很多人的基因组， 他们就能加以比对，并发现规律。

They can look at multiple people suffering from

他们可以研究多个

the same currently untreatable disease,

患有目前无法治疗的 同一种疾病的人，

find any small genetic changes they share,

找出他们共有的微小的遗传突变，

identify the faulty proteins they code for,

识别这些突变所编码的故障蛋白质，

and there you go: those are brand new therapeutic targets

那么这些突变就是目前不治之症的

for a currently untreatable disease.

全新药物靶点。

Now the researchers have three options:

现在研究人员有三个选项：

1. Has one of those new target proteins been previously linked

1. 【适应症扩展】 这些新的靶蛋白中，

是否有哪个 曾与另一种可治疗的疾病相关联？

to a different disease that is treatable?

If so, the drug for that disease may target this protein

如果有，治疗那种疾病的药物 或许能针对这一蛋白质，

and work for this disease, too.

并治疗当前这种疾病。 【心脏病】【类风湿性关节炎】

To find out, start a clinical trial.

可以启动临床试验进行验证。

2. If not, has one of those new target proteins being previously linked

2. 【重定位】如果没有， 这些新的靶蛋白中

是否有哪个曾与另一种疾病相关联；

to a different disease that had a promising drug

该疾病有过前景良好的药物， 但最终未能凑效？

that didn’t ultimately work?

If so, its promise may have come from successfully targeting this protein

如果有，当时的前景 可能是因为成功靶向了这一蛋白，

and it may work for this disease.

或许能对当前疾病起效。 【勃起障碍】【心绞痛】

Start a clinical trial to find out.

可以启动临床试验来求证。

3. If this is a brand new protein target never identified before for any disease

3. 【设计】如果这是一个 全新的蛋白质靶点，

从未和任何疾病有所关联，

could they design a new drug to affect it?

他们是否能设计一种新药 来影响这种蛋白质？

This involves AI machine learning and some very cool chemistry.

这个问题涉及人工智能、机器学习， 以及一些很酷的化学研究，

And a lot of time, effort, and cost too.

并且同样需要 耗费大量的时间、努力和金钱。

Researchers are excited about all this because they think

研究人员对这些选项非常激动， 因为他们认为

1 in 5 of the proteins in your body either have, or are likely to have,

人体内五分之一的蛋白质 都已有，或可能发现，

a drug that will bind to them.

能与之结合的药物。

And, as any common disease is likely to have hundreds, possibly thousands,

而且，由于任何一种普通疾病 都可能涉及成百上千的蛋白质，

of proteins involved,

they’re hopeful they’ll be able to identify a few of those proteins

研究人员希望他们能识别出

几种已有对应药物的蛋白质。

they’ve already got a drug for.

But this all relies on finding those new therapeutic targets,

但这一切都依赖于 找到那些新的药物靶点，

and that's why they need you.

这就是为什么研究人员需要你，

Well, your data— both your genetic data and your health history data,

或者说，你的数据—— 包括你的基因数据和病史数据，

so they can compare the genomes of people with similar conditions.

这样他们就可以比对 患有类似疾病的人的基因组。

So would you give your data for research?

那么，你会为研究贡献你的数据吗？

There are two questions you may have:

对此，你可能会有两个问题：

who will have access to my data, and what could they do with it?

谁有权访问我的数据？ 他们能拿我的数据做什么？

One group is health care providers who are starting to consider

一个群体是医疗保健提供者， 他们已经开始考虑

using genetic analysis to give patients more personal care.

利用遗传分析为患者提供 更加个性化的护理服务。

Another group is private consumer genetic testing companies.

另一个群体是私营的 消费级基因检测公司。

Some have already sold genetic data on to pharmaceutical companies for profit,

有一些公司已经向药企出售了 基因数据以获取利润，

but that was with their customers consent.

不过前提是已经取得了顾客的同意。

However, it raises another question:

然而，这就引发了另一个问题：

if your data goes towards making new drugs,

如果你的数据被用于研发新药，

should pharmaceutical companies recognize that contribution

药企是否应该承认这一贡献，

and offer drugs more cheaply?

并以更实惠的价格销售药品？

Your best bet is to research the organizations who are asking for your data

最好的办法，就是研究那些 请求你提供数据的机构，

to find out what they will do with it and how they will protect it.

了解他们将如何使用 以及保护这些数据。

We’ll each have our own take on this,

我们每个人对此都会有自己的看法，

but what is clear is genomics could be a powerful tool

但明确的是，基因组学 可以成为一个强大的工具，

to cut the current time and cost it takes to develop new drugs

对于当前无药可医的疾病，

它能削减目前开发新药 所需的时间和成本。

for currently untreatable diseases.

So, what do you think?

所以，你怎么看？