What the sugar coating on your cells is trying to tell you | Carolyn Bertozzi

Prevoditelj: Lucija Jelić Recezent: Sanda L

This is a talk about sugar and cancer.

Ovo je govor o šećeru i raku.

I became interested in sugar when I was in college.

Počela sam se zanimati za šećer kada sam bila na fakultetu.

Not this kind of sugar.

Ne ova vrsta šećera.

It was the sugar that our biology professors taught us about

Šećer o kojemu su nas podučavali naši profesori biologije

in the context of the coating of your cells.

u kontekstu premazivanja stanica.

Maybe you didn't know that your cells are coated with sugar.

Možda niste znali da su vaše stanice premazane šećerom.

And I didn't know that, either,

Nisam ni ja, također,

until I took these courses in college,

sve dok nisam slušala te kolegije,

but back then --

ali tada --

and this was in, let's just call it the 1980s --

i to je bilo u, recimo samo 1980-ima --

people didn't know much about why our cells are coated with sugar.

ljudi nisu znali mnogo o tome zašto su naše stanice premazane šećerom.

And when I dug through my notes, what I noticed I had written down

I kada sam kopala po svojim bilješkama, primijetila sam da sam zapisala

is that the sugar coating on our cells is like the sugar coating

da je šećerni premaz na našim stanicama isti kao šećerni premaz

on a peanut M and M.

na kikirikiju M&M-a.

And people thought the sugar coating on our cells

A ljudi su mislili da je šećerni premaz na našim stanicama

was like a protective coating

kao zaštitni premaz

that somehow made our cells stronger or tougher.

koji je nekako naše stanice učinio snažnijima ili jačima.

But we now know, many decades later,

Ali danas znamo, nakon mnogo desetljeća,

that it's much more complicated than that,

da je to mnogo složenije

and that the sugars on our cells are actually very complex.

i da su šećeri na našim stanicama u stvari jako složeni.

And if you could shrink yourself down to a little miniature airplane

I kada biste se mogli pretvoriti u minijaturni avion,

and fly right along the surface of your cells,

i preletjeti iznad površine svojih stanica,

it might look something like this --

to bi izgledalo nekako ovako --

with geographical features.

s geografskim značajkama.

And now, the complex sugars are these trees and bushes --

Složeni šećeri su ovo drveće i grmlje,

weeping willows that are swaying in the wind

tužne vrbe koje se njišu na vjetru

and moving with the waves.

i ljuljaju s valovima.

And when I started thinking about all these complex sugars

I kada sam počela razmišljati o svim tim složenim šećerima

that are like this foliage on our cells,

kao o vrsti pokrova na našim stanicama,

it became one of the most interesting problems that I encountered

to je postao jedan od najzanimljivijih problema na koji sam naišla

as a biologist and also as a chemist.

kao biolog i kao kemičar.

And so now we tend to think about the sugars

I sada nastojimo razmišljati o šećerima

that are populating the surface of our cells

koji nastanjuju površinu naših stanica,

as a language.

kao o jeziku.

They have a lot of information stored in their complex structures.

Sadrže mnogo informacija u svojim složenim strukturama.

But what are they trying to tell us?

Ali što nam pokušavaju reći?

I can tell you that we do know some information

Mogu vam reći da znamo neke informacije

that comes from these sugars,

koje dolaze od tih šećera

i ispada da su nevjerojatno važne

and it's turned out already to be incredibly important

in the world of medicine.

u svijetu medicine.

For example, one thing your sugars are telling us

Na primjer, jedna stvar koju nam šećeri govore

is your blood type.

je vaša krvna grupa.

So your blood cells, your red blood cells, are coated with sugars,

Vaše krvne stanice, crvene krvne stanice, prevučene su šećerom

and the chemical structures of those sugars determine your blood type.

i kemijska struktura tih šećera određuje vašu krvnu grupu.

So for example, I know that I am blood type O.

Tako na primjer, znam da je moja krvna grupa 0.

How many people are also blood type O?

Koliko još ljudi ima krvnu grupu 0?

Put your hands up.

Dignite ruke.

It's a pretty common one,

Prilično je česta

so when so few hands go up, either you're not paying attention

pa kada je ovako malo ruku u zraku, ili ne obraćate pozornost,

or you don't know your blood type, and both of those are bad.

ili ne znate vašu krvnu grupu, u oba slučaja to je loše.

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

Ali za vas koji dijelite krvnu grupu 0 sa mnom,

But for those of you who share the blood type O with me,

what this means is that we have this chemical structure

to znači da imamo ovakvu kemijsku strukturu

on the surface of our blood cells:

na površini naših krvnih stanica:

three simple sugars linked together to make a more complex sugar.

tri jednostavna šećera povezana u složeniji šećer.

And that, by definition, is blood type O.

I to je, po definiciji, krvna grupa 0.

Now, how many people are blood type A?

Sada, koliko ljudi ima krvnu grupu A?

Right here.

Eto.

That means you have an enzyme in your cells

To znači da vi imate enzim u vašim stanicama,

that adds one more building block,

koji dodaje još jedan gradivni dio,

that red sugar,

taj crveni šećer,

to build a more complex structure.

koji čini još složeniju strukturu.

And how many people are blood type B?

I koliko ljudi ima krvnu grupu B?

Quite a few.

Dobar dio.

You have a slightly different enzyme than the A people,

Vi imate nešto drugačiji enzim nego osobe iz A grupe

pa vi imate nešto drugačiju strukturu,

so you build a slightly different structure,

a vi koji imate AB grupu

and those of you that are AB

have the enzyme from your mother, the other enzyme from your father,

imate jedan enzim od svoje majke, drugi enzim od vašeg oca

and now you make both of these structures in roughly equal proportions.

i sada imate obje te strukture u približno jednakim omjerima.

And when this was figured out,

I kada je to otkriveno,

which is now back in the previous century,

sada već u prošlom stoljeću,

this enabled one of the most important medical procedures in the world,

to je omogućilo jedan od najvažnijih medicinskih postupaka u svijetu,

which, of course, is the blood transfusion.

a to je, naravno, transfuzija krvi.

And by knowing what your blood type is,

I poznavajući svoju krvnu grupu,

we can make sure, if you ever need a transfusion,

možemo biti uvjereni, da ako ikad budete trebali transfuziju,

that your donor has the same blood type,

da i vaš donor ima istu krvnu grupu,

so that your body doesn't see foreign sugars,

kako se vaše tijelo ne bi susrelo sa stranim šećerima,

which it wouldn't like and would certainly reject.

koji mu se ne bi svidjeli i koje bi sigurno odbacio.

What else are the sugars on the surface of your cells trying to tell us?

Što nam još šećeri na površini stanica pokušavaju reći?

Well, those sugars might be telling us that you have cancer.

Pa, ti šećeri bi nam mogli reći da imate rak.

So a few decades ago,

Tako su se prije nekoliko desetljeća

correlations began to emerge from the analysis of tumor tissue.

počele pojavljivati korelacije u analizi kancerogenog tkiva.

And the typical scenario is a patient would have a tumor detected,

I tipičan scenarij je da se pacijentu otkrije tumor,

and the tissue would be removed in a biopsy procedure

tkivo bude uklonjeno biopsijom

and then sent down to a pathology lab

i poslano u laboratorij patologije,

where that tissue would be analyzed to look for chemical changes

gdje bi bilo analizirano u potrazi za kemijskim promjenama,

that might inform the oncologist about the best course of treatment.

koje bi mogle informirati onkologa o najboljem tijeku liječenja.

And what was discovered from studies like that

Ono što je bilo otkriveno u takvim studijama,

is that the sugars have changed

je da su se šećeri promijenili

when the cell transforms from being healthy to being sick.

kada su se stanice transformirale iz zdravih u bolesne.

And those correlations have come up again and again and again.

I te su se korelacije uvijek iznova pojavljivale.

But a big question in the field has been: Why?

Ali veliko pitanje bilo je: Zašto?

Why do cancers have different sugars? What's the importance of that?

Zašto rak ima drugačije šećere? U čemu je važnost toga?

Why does it happen, and what can we do about it if it does turn out

Zašto se to događa i što mi možemo učiniti s tim ako se ispostavi

to be related to the disease process?

da su povezani s procesom bolesti?

So, one of the changes that we study

Pa, jedna od promjena koje smo proučavali

is an increase in the density of a particular sugar

je povećanje gustoće određenog šećera,

that's called sialic acid.

koji se zove sijalična kiselina.

And I think this is going to be one of the most important sugars

I ja mislim da će to biti jedan od najvažnijih šećera

of our times,

našeg vremena,

so I would encourage everybody to get familiar with this word.

pa bih ohrabrila sve da zapamte tu riječ.

Sialic acid is not the kind of sugar that we eat.

Sijalična kiselina nije onaj šećer koji jedemo.

Those are different sugars.

To su drugačiji šećeri.

This is a kind of sugar that is actually found

Ovo je vrsta šećera koja je zapravo nađena

at certain levels on all of the cells in your body.

u određenim razinama na svim stanicama u vašem tijelu.

It's actually quite common on your cells.

Zapravo je jako učestala na vašim stanicama.

But for some reason,

Ali iz nekog razloga,

cancer cells, at least in a successful, progressive disease,

stanice raka, barem u uspješnoj, progresivnoj bolesti,

tend to have more sialic acid

naginju većim razinama sijalične kiseline

than a normal, healthy cell would have.

od normalnih, zdravih stanica.

And why?

Zašto?

What does that mean?

Što to znači?

Well, what we've learned

Pa, ono što smo naučili je

is that it has to do with your immune system.

da je to povezano s vašim imunološkim sustavom.

So let me tell you a little bit about the importance of your immune system

Reći ću vam malo o važnosti vašeg imunološkog sustava

in cancer.

tijekom raka.

And this is something that's, I think, in the news a lot these days.

I to je nešto što je, čini mi se, često u vijestima ovih dana.

You know, people are starting to become familiar with the term

Znate, ljudi se počinju upoznavati s izrazom

"cancer immune therapy."

"imunoterapija u liječenju raka."

And some of you might even know people

I neki od vas možda i znaju ljude

who are benefiting from these very new ways of treating cancer.

koji imaju koristi od tih posve novih načina tretiranja raka.

What we now know is that your immune cells,

Ono što znamo sada je da vas vaše imunološke stanice,

which are the white blood cells coursing through your bloodstream,

bijele krvne stanice, koje teku vašim krvotokom,

protect you on a daily basis from things gone bad --

štite na dnevnoj bazi od toga da sve pođe po krivu,

including cancer.

uključujući i rak.

And so in this picture,

Na ovoj slici,

those little green balls are your immune cells,

ove male zelene kuglice su vaše imunološke stanice,

and that big pink cell is a cancer cell.

a ova velika ružičasta stanica je stanica raka.

And these immune cells go around and taste all the cells in your body.

Te imunološke stanice idu uokolo i kušaju sve stanice u vašem tijelu.

That's their job.

To je njihov posao.

And most of the time, the cells taste OK.

I u većini slučajeva, stanice su OK.

But once in a while, a cell might taste bad.

Ali ponekad, neka stanica nije u redu.

Hopefully, that's the cancer cell,

Nadajmo se da je to stanica raka

and when those immune cells get the bad taste,

i kada te imunološke stanice osjete loš okus,

they launch an all-out strike and kill those cells.

lansiraju totalan napad i ubiju te stanice.

So we know that.

To je ono što znamo.

We also know that if you can potentiate that tasting,

Također znamo da ako možete potencirati to kušanje,

if you can encourage those immune cells to actually take a big old bite

ako možete ohrabriti te imunološke stanice da uistinu zagrizu

out of a cancer cell,

te stanice raka,

you get a better job protecting yourself from cancer every day

imate više šanse u zaštiti od raka svaki dan,

and maybe even curing a cancer.

a možda čak i u njegovom liječenju.

And there are now a couple of drugs out there in the market

Trenutno je na tržištu nekoliko lijekova

that are used to treat cancer patients

koji se koriste u liječenju raka,

that act exactly by this process.

a koji se ponašaju točno tako.

They activate the immune system

Aktiviraju imunološki sustav

so that the immune system can be more vigorous

kako bi nas on

in protecting us from cancer.

snažnije štitio od raka.

In fact, one of those drugs

Zapravo, jedan od tih lijekova

may well have spared President Jimmy Carter's life.

možda je malo produžio život predsjedniku Jimmyju Carteru.

Do you remember, President Carter had malignant melanoma

Sjećate li se, predsjednik Carter je imao maligni melanom,

that had metastasized to his brain,

koji je metastazirao u mozak

and that diagnosis is one that is usually accompanied by numbers

i dijagnoza mu je bila jedna od onih obično popraćenih brojkama

like "months to live."

kao što su "mjeseci života."

But he was treated with one of these new immune-stimulating drugs,

Ali je bio liječen jednim od tih imunostimulatora

and now his melanoma appears to be in remission,

i sada je njegov melanom u fazi remisije,

which is remarkable,

što je izvanredno,

considering the situation only a few years ago.

uzimajući u obzir situaciju od prije samo par godina.

In fact, it's so remarkable

Zapravo, to je toliko izvanredno,

that provocative statements like this one:

da provokativne izjave poput ove:

"Cancer is having a penicillin moment," people are saying,

"Rak doživljava penicilinski trenutak," govore ljudi o tim novim

with these new immune therapy drugs.

imunoterapijskim lijekovima.

I mean, that's an incredibly bold thing to say about a disease

Mislim, nevjerojatno je odvažno reći tako nešto o bolesti,

which we've been fighting for a long time

s kojom se dugo borimo

and mostly losing the battle with.

i protiv koje najčešće gubimo bitku.

So this is very exciting.

Pa, ovo je jako uzbudljivo.

Now what does this have to do with sugars?

Sada, kakve to ima veze s šećerima?

Well, I'll tell you what we've learned.

Pa, reći ću vam što smo naučili.

When an immune cell snuggles up against a cancer cell to take a taste,

Kada se imunološka stanica priljubi uz stanicu raka kako bi je probala,

it's looking for signs of disease,

ona traži znakove bolesti,

and if it finds those signs,

i ako pronađe takve znakove,

the cell gets activated and it launches a missile strike and kills the cell.

stanica se aktivira i pokreće raketni udar te ubije stanicu.

But if that cancer cell has a dense forest of that sugar, sialic acid,

Ali ako ta stanica raka ima gustu šumu tog šećera, sijalične kiseline,

well, it starts to taste pretty good.

njen okus počinje biti prilično dobar.

And there's a protein on immune cells that grabs the sialic acid,

Postoji protein na imunološkim stanicama koji grabi sijaličnu kiselinu,

and if that protein gets held at that synapse

i ako se taj protein zadrži na toj sinapsi

between the immune cell and the cancer cell,

između imunološke stanice i stanice raka,

it puts that immune cell to sleep.

on uspava imunološku stanicu.

The sialic acids are telling the immune cell,

Sijalične kiseline govore imunološkoj stanici,

"Hey, this cell's all right. Nothing to see here, move along.

"Hej, ova stanica je u redu. Nemaš što za vidjeti, nastavi dalje.

Look somewhere else."

Pogledaj negdje drugdje."

So in other words,

Drugim riječima,

as long as our cells are wearing a thick coat of sialic acid,

sve dok naše stanice imaju debeli omotač sijalične kiseline,

they look fabulous, right?

izgledaju fenomenalno, zar ne?

It's amazing.

To je nevjerojatno.

And what if you could strip off that coat

A što ako biste mogli skinuti taj omotač

and take that sugar away?

i maknuti taj šećer?

Well, your immune system

Pa, vaš imunološki sustav

might be able to see that cancer cell for what it really is:

bi možda mogao vidjeti tu stanicu raka onakvom kakva je ona zaista:

something that needs to be destroyed.

kao nešto što treba biti uništeno.

And so this is what we're doing in my lab.

I to je ono što mi radimo u mom laboratoriju.

We're developing new medicines

Razvijamo nove lijekove

that are basically cell-surface lawnmowers --

koji su u osnovi površinske stanične kosilice,

molecules that go down to the surface of these cancer cells

molekule koje dolaze do površine tih stanica raka

and just cut off those sialic acids,

i samo odrežu tu sijaličnu kiselinu,

so that the immune system can reach its full potential

kako bi imunološki sustav dostigao svoj puni potencijal

in eliminating those cancer cells from our body.

u eliminiranju tih stanica raka iz našeg tijela.

So in closing,

I za kraj,

let me just remind you again:

samo da vas podsjetim:

your cells are coated with sugars.

vaše stanice su premazane šećerima.

The sugars are telling cells around that cell

Šećeri govore stanicama oko te stanice

whether the cell is good or bad.

je li ta stanica dobra ili loša.

And that's important,

I to je važno,

because our immune system needs to leave the good cells alone.

jer naš imunološki sustav treba ostaviti dobre stanice na miru.

Otherwise, we'd have autoimmune diseases.

U suprotnom, imali bismo autoimune bolesti.

But once in a while, cancers get the ability

Ali, s vremena na vrijeme, rak dobije mogućnost

to express these new sugars.

da manifestira te nove šećere.

And now that we understand

I sada kada razumijemo

how those sugars mesmerize the immune system,

kako ti šećeri obmanjuju imunološki sustav,

we can come up with new medicines to wake up those immune cells,

možemo osmisliti nove lijekove da probude te imunološke stanice,

tell them, "Ignore the sugars, eat the cell

da im kažu, "Ignorirajte šećere, pojedite stanicu

and have a delicious snack, on cancer."

i uzmite ukusan zalogaj raka."

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)