A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager | Jack Andraka

Traducător: andra luca Corector: Ariana Bleau Lugo

Have you ever experienced a moment in your life

Aţi trecut vreodatǎ printr-un moment în viaţǎ,

that was so painful and confusing,

atât de dureros şi derutant

încât tot ce v-ați fi dorit

that all you wanted to do

era sǎ învǎţați orice era nevoie ca sǎ descifrați misterul?

was learn as much as you could to make sense of it all?

When I was 13, a close family friend who was like an uncle to me

Când aveam 13 ani, un prieten apropiat de familie

care mi-a fost ca un unchi,

passed away from pancreatic cancer.

a murit de cancer pancreatic.

When the disease hit so close to home,

Lovindu-mă atât de profund,

I knew I needed to learn more.

am realizat cǎ trebuia sa aflu mai mult,

So I went online to find answers.

aşa cǎ am intrat pe internet să caut răspunsuri.

Using the Internet, I found a variety of statistics on pancreatic cancer,

Pe internet am gǎsit o varietate de statistici

referitoare la cancerul de pancreas

and what I had found shocked me.

şi ce am aflat m-a șocat.

Peste 85% din cazurile de cancer pancreatic

Over 85 percent of all pancreatic cancers are diagnosed late,

sunt descoperite târziu,

when someone has less than a two percent chance of survival.

când pacientul are șanse mai mici de 2% de supravieţuire.

Why are we so bad at detecting pancreatic cancer?

De ce suntem atât de înceţi în detectarea acestui cancer?

The reason?

Motivul? Medicina actuală

Today's current "modern" medicine is a 60-year-old technique.

foloseşte o metodă veche de 60 de ani.

That's older than my dad.

Până și tata e mai tânǎr de atât.

(Laughter)

(Râsete)

But also, it's extremely expensive, costing 800 dollars per test,

Dar testele sunt şi foarte scumpe,

costă 800$ un test,

and it's grossly inaccurate, missing 30 percent of all pancreatic cancers.

şi sunt teribil de imprecise,

ratând 30% din totalul cazurilor de cancer pancreatic.

Your doctor would have to be ridiculously suspicious that you have the cancer

Doctorul ar trebui sǎ fie aproape convins

cǎ aveți acest cancer ca sǎ comande testul.

in order to give you this test.

Learning this, I knew there had to be a better way.

Când am aflat, am intuit cǎ trebuia sǎ existe o cale mai bună.

So, I set up scientific criteria

Am decis criteriile ştiinţifice

as to what a sensor would have to look like

pentru un senzor eficient

in order to effectively diagnose pancreatic cancer.

în semnalarea cancerului de pancreas.

The sensor would have to be:

Testul trebuia sǎ fie ieftin, rapid,

inexpensive, rapid, simple, sensitive,

simplu, precis, selectiv,

selective, and minimally invasive.

şi neinvaziv.

Existǎ un motiv pentru care testul

Now, there's a reason why this test hasn't been updated in over six decades.

n-a fost îmbunătățit în mai bine de şase decenii.

And that's because when we're looking for pancreatic cancer,

Când cǎutăm semnele de cancer pancreatic,

we're looking at your bloodstream,

ne uitǎm la circuitul sangvin,

oricum abundent cu mii de proteine,

which is already abundant in all these tons and tons of protein,

and you're looking for this miniscule difference in this tiny amount of protein.

iar noi cǎutăm o diferenţă cantitativă

minusculǎ la doar una din proteine,

Just this one protein.

doar una singurǎ.

E aproape imposibil.

That's next to impossible.

Cu toate astea, mulțumitǎ optimismului copilăresc, nu m-am descurajat.

However, undeterred due to my teenage optimism --

(Laughter)

(Aplauze) --

(Applause)

I went online to a teenager's two best friends, Google and Wikipedia.

M-am dus online la cei mai buni prieteni ai adolescenţilor:

Google şi Wikipedia.

I got everything for my homework from those two sources.

Găsesc totul pentru teme la aceste două surse.

(Laughter)

Şi am gǎsit un articol listând

And what I had found was an article

that listed a database of over 8,000 different proteins

o bazǎ de date cu peste 8.000 de proteine distincte

that are found when you have pancreatic cancer.

prezente în sânge când ai cancer de pancreas.

So, I decided to go and make it my new mission

Aşadar mi-am propus să verific

to go through all these proteins,

toate aceste proteine să văd care ar putea

and see which ones could serve as a bio-marker for pancreatic cancer.

servi drept biomarker pentru cancerul pancreatic.

Pentru a-mi simplifica misiunea

And to make it a bit simpler for myself,

I decided to map out scientific criteria, and here it is.

am stabilit o listǎ de criterii ştiinţifice. Iat-o.

Essentially, first, the protein would have to be found in all pancreatic cancers,

Mai întâi, proteina trebuia sǎ fie prezentǎ

în toate formele de cancer pancreatic în concentrații ridicate,

at high levels in the bloodstream,

în stadii incipiente, dar specifice cancerului.

in the earliest stages, but also only in cancer.

And so I'm just plugging and chugging through this gargantuan task,

Aşadar mă arunc în această muncă astronomică

and finally, on the 4,000th try,

şi într-un final, la a 4.000-a încercare,

when I'm close to losing my sanity,

când sunt aproape sǎ-mi pierd minţile,

I find the protein.

gǎsesc proteina cu pricina.

And the name of the protein I'd located was called mesothelin,

Numele acestei proteine

e Mesotelinǎ.

and it's just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill type protein,

Nu e decât o proteinǎ de rând,

unless, of course, you have pancreatic, ovarian or lung cancer,

cu excepția cancerului pancreatic,

ovarian sau pulmonar,

in which case it's found at these very high levels in your bloodstream.

când proteina e în concentrații foarte mari în sânge.

But also, the key is that it's found in the earliest stages of the disease,

E important

cǎ mesotelina apare în stadiile incipiente ale bolii,

when someone has close to 100 percent chance of survival.

când există aproape 100%

şanse de supravieţuire.

Acum cǎ stabilisem o proteinǎ specifică,

So now that I'd found a reliable protein I could detect,

I then shifted my focus to actually detecting that protein,

mi-am îndreptat atenţia cǎtre detectarea efectivă a proteinei,

and thus, pancreatic cancer.

şi, prin urmare, a cancerului pancreatic.

Succesul mi-a surâs într-un loc neaşteptat,

Now, my breakthrough came in a very unlikely place,

possibly the most unlikely place for innovation --

poate cel mai improbabil pentru o inovaţie,

laboratorul de biologie al liceului,

my high school biology class, the absolute stifler of innovation.

sufocarea absolută a inovației.

(Laughter)

(Râsete) (Aplauze)

(Applause)

Am furișat un articol despre

And I had snuck in this article on these things called carbon nanotubes,

nanotuburi de carbon, tuburi subţiri şi lungi de carbon

and that's just a long, thin pipe of carbon

that's an atom thick, and one 50,000th the diameter of your hair.

de grosimea unui atom –

de 50.000 de ori mai subţiri decât firul de pǎr.

And despite their extremely small sizes,

În ciuda dimensiunilor extrem de reduse,

they have these incredible properties.

au proprietǎţi incredibile.

They're kind of like the superheroes of material science.

Sunt un fel de supereroi ai fizicii materialelor.

În timp ce citeam pe furiş articolul

And while I was sneakily reading this article under my desk in my biology class,

sub standul din laboratorul de biologie,

we were supposed to be paying attention to these other kind of cool molecules,

trebuia să fim atenți la

alte molecule interesante, numite anticorpi.

called antibodies.

And these are pretty cool because they only react

Anticorpii sunt interesanți pentru cǎ fiecare reacţionează

with one specific protein,

cu o singură proteină specificǎ,

but they're not nearly as interesting as carbon nanotubes.

dar nu la fel de interesanţi ca nanotuburile de carbon.

Şi cum stăteam aşa la oră,

And so then, I was sitting in class, and suddenly it hit me:

mi-a cǎzut fisa.

I could combine what I was reading about, carbon nanotubes,

Aş putea combina ce citisem

despre nanotuburi,

with what I was supposed to be thinking about, antibodies.

cu ce se preda la oră despre anticorpi.

Essentially, I could weave a bunch of these antibodies

În esenţǎ, aş putea incorpora anticorpi

into a network of carbon nanotubes,

într-o rețea de nanotuburi de carbon

such that you have a network that only reacts with one protein,

încât sǎ rezulte o reţea

care sǎ reacţioneze cu o proteinǎ unicǎ,

but also, due to the properties of these nanotubes,

dar care, datoritǎ proprietǎţilor specifice ale nanotuburilor,

it will change its electrical properties,

ar schimba proprietǎţile electrice ale reţelei

based on the amount of protein present.

în funcţie de cantitea de proteinǎ prezentă.

However, there's a catch.

Totuși, existǎ un dezavantaj.

These networks of carbon nanotubes are extremely flimsy.

Reţelele de carbon sunt foarte fragile,

din cauza asta au nevoie de un suport.

And since they're so delicate, they need to be supported.

So that's why I chose to use paper.

De asta am ales să folosesc hârtia.

Making a cancer sensor out of paper is about as simple

Confecţionarea unui detector de cancer din hârtie

e la fel de simplu ca și coptul fursecurilor cu ciocolatǎ,

as making chocolate chip cookies, which I love.

care îmi plac mult.

(Laughs)

You start with some water, pour in some nanotubes,

Iei apǎ, adaugi nanotuburi,

add antibodies, mix it up, take some paper, dip it, dry it,

plus anticorpi, amesteci bine,

scufunzi o bucǎţicǎ de hârtie, o usuci,

and you can detect cancer.

şi detectezi cancerul.

(Aplauze)

(Applause)

Then, suddenly, a thought occurred

Apoi deodatǎ, un gând

that kind of put a blemish on my amazing plan here.

mi-a umbrit planul meu uimitor.

I can't really do cancer research on my kitchen countertop.

Nu se cuvine sǎ investighez cancerul

pe masa din bucǎtǎrie.

My mom wouldn't really like that.

Mamei nu i-ar plăcea deloc.

So instead, I decided to go for a lab.

Am decis sǎ caut un laborator.

So I typed up a budget, a materials list, a timeline, and a procedure,

Am fǎcut o listǎ cu preţuri, materiale,

timpul necesar, metodologie,

and I emailed it to 200 different professors

și am trimis emailuri la 200 de profesori

at Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health --

de la Universitatea John Hopkins

şi la Institutul Naţional al Sǎnǎtǎţii,

essentially, anyone that had anything to do with pancreatic cancer.

adică tuturor celor implicaţi în cercetarea cancerului de pancreas.

I sat back waiting for these positive emails to be pouring in,

Mă așteptam la un duium de emailuri încurajatoare,

saying, "You're a genius! You're going to save us all!"

care sǎ declare: „Ești genial!"

„O sǎ ne salvezi pe toţi!"

And --

(Râsete)

(Laughter)

Then reality took hold, and over the course of a month,

În schimb m-a întâmpinat realitatea

şi pe parcursul unei luni întregi

I got 199 rejections out of those 200 emails.

am fost refuzat în 199 din cele 200 de emailuri trimise.

Un profesor chiar a studiat propunerea mea,

One professor even went through my entire procedure,

painstakingly -- I'm not really sure where he got all this time --

în detaliu – nu ştiu cum a găsit atâta timp –

and he went through and said why each and every step

şi mi-a explicat de ce fiecare din etapele metodei mele

was like the worst mistake I could ever make.

era cea mai mare greşealǎ posibilǎ.

Clearly, the professors did not have as high of an opinion of my work as I did.

Evident profesorii nu erau la fel de încântaţi

de munca mea pe cât eram eu însumi.

Cu toate astea, a apǎrut ceva la orizont.

However, there is a silver lining.

One professor said, "Maybe I might be able to help you, kid."

Unul dintre profesori a spus: „Poate te-aş putea ajuta, tinere".

So, I went in that direction.

Şi am plecat în aceastǎ direcţie.

(Laughter)

(Râsete)

As you can never say no to a kid.

Nu poți spune „nu” unui copil.

And so then, three months later,

Aşadar, dupǎ trei luni,

I finally nailed down a harsh deadline with this guy,

am reușit în final sǎ cǎdem de acord asupra unui plan,

and I get into his lab, I get all excited, and then I sit down,

am ajuns la laborator,

cu mare nerǎbdare, am luat loc pe scaun,

I start opening my mouth and talking,

am deschis gura şi am început sǎ vorbesc.

Cinci secunde mai târziu cheamă un alt doctor în științe.

and five seconds later, he calls in another Ph.D.

Ph.D.s just flock into this little room,

Alţii cercetători se înghesuie în laborator,

and they're just firing these questions at me,

şi încep sǎ mǎ interogheze.

and by the end, I kind of felt like I was in a clown car.

Mă cam simţeam ca la circ.

There were 20 Ph.D.s, plus me and the professor

Erau 20 de doctori, plus eu şi profesorul,

înghesuiţi într-un mic birou,

crammed into this tiny office space,

with them firing these rapid-fire questions at me,

cu toţii punând întrebare dupǎ întrebare,

trying to sink my procedure.

încercând sǎ-mi anuleze metoda.

How unlikely is that? I mean, pshhh.

Cine se aştepta la aşa ceva...?!

(Laughter)

(Râsete)

However, subjecting myself to that interrogation --

Cu toate astea, trecând cu bine de interogare,

I answered all their questions, and I guessed on quite a few

şi rǎspunzând la toate întrebǎrile –

unele le-am inventat, dar le-am nimerit –

but I got them right --

am obținut în final locul în laborator de care aveam nevoie.

and I finally landed the lab space I needed.

But it was shortly afterwards that I discovered my once brilliant procedure

Dar am descoperit ulterior cǎ

metoda, iniţial considerată genialǎ,

had something like a million holes in it,

avea un milion de fisuri.

and over the course of seven months,

Pe parcursul urmǎtoarelor şapte luni

I painstakingly filled each and every one of those holes.

am cârpit conștiincios toate fisurile.

The result?

Rezultatul? Un mic senzor din hârtie

One small paper sensor that costs three cents and takes five minutes to run.

care costǎ trei cenţi și ia cinci minute să testezi.

This makes it 168 times faster,

Asta înseamnǎ de 168 de ori mai rapid,

over 26,000 times less expensive,

de 26.000 de ori mai ieftin,

and over 400 times more sensitive than our current standard

şi de 400 de ori mai precis

decât standardul curent pentru detectarea cancerului pancreatic.

for pancreatic cancer detection.

(Aplauze)

(Applause)

One of the best parts of the sensor, though,

Cea mai mare realizare a testului însǎ

e precizia de aproape 100%,

is that it has close to 100 percent accuracy,

and can detect the cancer in the earliest stages,

semnaleazǎ prezenţa cancerului şi în stadiul iniţial

când pacientul are aproape 100% şanse de supravieţuire.

when someone has close to 100 percent chance of survival.

And so in the next two to five years,

Aşadar în urmǎtorii doi pânǎ la cinci ani,

this sensor could potentially lift the pancreatic cancer survival rates

testul ar putea îmbunǎtǎţi şansele de supravieţuire în cazurile de cancer pancreatic

from a dismal 5.5 percent to close to 100 percent,

de la procentul minuscul de 5,5%

pânǎ la aproape 100%

and it would do similar for ovarian and lung cancer.

și ar reduce similar şi în cazurile de cancer ovarian și pulmonar.

Dar asta nu e tot.

But it wouldn't stop there.

By switching out that antibody,

Dacǎ înlocuim anticorpul,

you can look at a different protein, thus, a different disease --

putem investiga o altǎ proteinǎ,

prin urmare o altǎ boalǎ,

potentially any disease in the entire world.

poate chiar orice boalǎ din lume.

So that ranges from heart disease, to malaria, HIV, AIDS,

De la boli cardiace,

la malarie, SIDA,

as well as other forms of cancer -- anything.

alte forme de cancer – absolut orice.

And so, hopefully one day,

Să sperăm cǎ într-o zi

we can all have that one extra uncle,

vom putea salva un unchi,

that one mother, that one brother, sister,

o mamǎ, un frate, o soră,

un membru drag al familiei,

we can have that one more family member to love.

şi cǎ vom fi scutiţi de povara grea

And that our hearts will be rid of that one disease burden

that comes from pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer,

cauzatǎ de cancerul pancreatic, ovarian sau pulmonar,

and potentially any disease.

şi poate oricare altă boalǎ,

But through the Internet, anything is possible.

şi poate cu ajutorul internetului orice e posibil.

Theories can be shared,

Ideile pot fi împǎrtǎşite,

and you don't have to be a professor with multiple degrees

şi nu trebuie sǎ fii profesor

cu nenumǎrate diplome ca sǎ îţi fie apreciate ideile.

to have your ideas valued.

It's a neutral space, where what you look like, age or gender --

E un spaţiu neutru,

unde aspectul fizic, vârsta sau sexul,

it doesn't matter.

nu au importanţǎ.

It's just your ideas that count.

Ceea ce contează cu adevarat sunt ideile.

Dupǎ mine, secretul e sǎ privim internetul

For me, it's all about looking at the Internet in an entirely new way,

dintr-un unghi cu totul nou

to realize that there's so much more to it

ca sǎ realizăm cǎ oferǎ mult mai mult

than just posting duck-face pictures of yourself online.

decât un loc pentru poze cu strâmbături.

(Laughter)

Am putea schimba lumea.

You could be changing the world.

So if a 15 year-old who didn't even know what a pancreas was

Dacǎ un tânăr de 15 ani

care nici nu ştia ce e un acela pancreas

could find a new way to detect pancreatic cancer --

poate descoperi o modalitate nouǎ de a detecta cancerul pancreatic,

imaginează-ți cum ai putea contribui chiar tu.

just imagine what you could do.

Thank you.

Vǎ mulţumesc.

(Applause)

(Aplauze)