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

Translator: Jana Tabačková Reviewer: Katarína Grozaničová

Have you ever experienced a moment in your life

Zažili ste už niečo

that was so painful and confusing,

tak bolestné a mätúce,

že ste zrazu chceli len

that all you wanted to do

zistiť čo najviac, aby ste zážitok dokázali pochopiť?

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

Keď som mal 13, blízky rodinný priateľ,

ktorý mi bol ako strýko,

passed away from pancreatic cancer.

umrel na rakovinu pankreasu.

When the disease hit so close to home,

Keďže choroba postihla niekoho tak blízkeho,

I knew I needed to learn more.

vedel som, že potrebujem zistiť viac,

So I went online to find answers.

a tak som hľadal odpovede online.

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

Na internete som našiel rôzne štatistiky

o rakovine pankreasu.

and what I had found shocked me.

Informácie ma šokovali.

Vo vyše 85 % prípadov rakovinu pankreasu

Over 85 percent of all pancreatic cancers are diagnosed late,

diagnostikujú prineskoro,

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

keď je šanca na prežitie menšia než 2 %.

Why are we so bad at detecting pancreatic cancer?

Prečo máme taký problém diagnostikovať rakovinu pankreasu?

The reason?

Dôvod? Moderná medicína dnes

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

používa 60-ročnú techniku.

That's older than my dad.

Staršiu ako môj ocko.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

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

Okrem toho je aj hrozne drahá.

Jeden test stojí 800 dolárov.

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

A je značne nepresná,

v 30 % prípadov sa ňou rakovina nezistí.

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

Doktor by musel mať až komické podozrenie,

že máte rakovinu, aby vám tento test urobil.

in order to give you this test.

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

Keď som to videl, vedel som, že musí existovať lepší spôsob.

So, I set up scientific criteria

Určil som vedecké kritériá,

as to what a sensor would have to look like

ako by mal senzor vyzerať,

in order to effectively diagnose pancreatic cancer.

aby bola diagnostika choroby efektívna.

The sensor would have to be:

Senzor mal byť lacný, rýchly,

inexpensive, rapid, simple, sensitive,

jednoduchý, citlivý, selektívny,

selective, and minimally invasive.

a čo najmenej invazívny.

Je tu dôvod, prečo sa test

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

za viac než 60 rokov nezmenil.

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

Keď hľadáme známky rakoviny pankreasu,

we're looking at your bloodstream,

skúmame krvný obeh,

ktorý priam oplýva množstvami proteínov

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.

a pritom hľadáme drobné rozdiely

v malinkom množstve proteínu,

Just this one protein.

len jedného z nich.

Takmer nemožné.

That's next to impossible.

Vďaka mladíckemu optimizmu som sa však nedal odradiť

However, undeterred due to my teenage optimism --

(Laughter)

(Aplauz)

(Applause)

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

Obrátil som sa na dvoch najlepších priateľov tínedžera

Google a Wikipediu.

I got everything for my homework from those two sources.

Vždy mi boli dobrými pomocníkmi pri domácich úlohách.

(Laughter)

Našiel som článok, ktorý obsahoval

And what I had found was an article

that listed a database of over 8,000 different proteins

databázu viac než 8 000 rozličných proteínov,

that are found when you have pancreatic cancer.

ktoré sú v krvi pacienta s rakovinou pankreasu.

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

Rozhodol som sa a určiť si nový cieľ -

to go through all these proteins,

prejsť si všetky proteíny a zistiť, ktoré

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

by mohli poslúžiť ako biomarker pre rakovinu pankreasu.

A aby som si to trošku zjednodušil,

And to make it a bit simpler for myself,

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

rozhodol som sa určiť si vedecké kritériá. Tu sú.

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

Po prvé, konkrétny proteín by sa mal

vo veľkých množstvách nachádzať v krvi všetkých postihnutých

at high levels in the bloodstream,

už v ranom štádiu, ale len a len ak ide o rakovinu.

in the earliest stages, but also only in cancer.

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

A tak som sa pracne prehrýzal touto syzifovskou úlohou,

and finally, on the 4,000th try,

a napokon na 4000-ci pokus,

when I'm close to losing my sanity,

keď som už takmer prišiel o rozum,

I find the protein.

som proteín našiel.

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

Ten proteín

sa volá mezotelín.

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

Je to len obyčajný, priemerný proteín.

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

Ak však máte rakovinu pankreasu,

vaječníkov alebo pľúc,

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

v krvi sa nachádza vo veľkých množstvách.

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

Kľúčové je však aj to,

že sa ho toľko v krvi nachádza aj v ranom štádiu,

when someone has close to 100 percent chance of survival.

keď je šanca na prežitie ešte takmer

100 %.

Keď som už mal spoľahlivý proteín,

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

I then shifted my focus to actually detecting that protein,

sústredil som sa na to, ako ho odhaliť

and thus, pancreatic cancer.

a diagnostikovať tak rakovinu.

Prelom som dosiahol na nepravdepodobnom mieste,

Now, my breakthrough came in a very unlikely place,

possibly the most unlikely place for innovation --

možno tom najnepravdepodobnejšom pre inovácie:

na hodine biológie,

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

na úplnom pohrebisku inovácii.

(Laughter)

(Smiech) (Aplauz)

(Applause)

Prepašoval som si na hodinu článok o tých vecičkách,

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

o uhlíkových nanorúrkach. Sú to dlhé tenké rúrky z uhlíka,

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

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

hrubé ako atóm,

len jednu 50 000-cínu priemeru ľudského vlasu.

And despite their extremely small sizes,

No napriek extrémne malým rozmerom,

they have these incredible properties.

majú neuveriteľné vlastnosti.

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

Sú trošku ako superhrdinovia materiálového inžinierstva.

A keď som pod lavicou na biológii

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

čítal tento článok,

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

mali sme dávať pozor na výklad o

ďalších super molekulách, o protilátkach.

called antibodies.

And these are pretty cool because they only react

Protilátky sú skvelé, lebo reagujú

with one specific protein,

len s jedným špecifickým proteínom.

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

Nie sú však ani zďaleka také zaujímavé ako uhlíkové nanorúrky.

A vtedy, keď som tak sedel v triede,

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

mi zrazu napadlo:

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

mohol by som skombinovať to, o čom čítam,

uhlíkové nanorúrky,

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

s tým, o čom sa hovorilo na hodine, s protilátkami.

Essentially, I could weave a bunch of these antibodies

V podstate by som mohol do siete uhlíkových rúrok,

into a network of carbon nanotubes,

pridať nejaké z týchto protilátok,

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

a získal by som sieť,

ktorá reaguje len s jedným proteínom,

but also, due to the properties of these nanotubes,

ale vďaka vlastnostiam nanorúrok,

it will change its electrical properties,

by sa tiež zmenili elektrické vlastnosti

based on the amount of protein present.

na základe množstva prítomného proteínu.

However, there's a catch.

Je tu však háčik.

These networks of carbon nanotubes are extremely flimsy.

Takéto siete uhlíkových nanorúrok sú mimoriadne krehké

a preto potrebujú nejakú podporu.

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

So that's why I chose to use paper.

Preto som sa rozhodol použiť papier.

Making a cancer sensor out of paper is about as simple

Vyrobiť rakovinový senzor z papiera

je asi také ťažké ako upiecť moje obľúbené

as making chocolate chip cookies, which I love.

čokoládové keksíky.

(Laughs)

You start with some water, pour in some nanotubes,

Vezmete vodu, vlejete do nej nanorúrky,

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

pridáte protilátky, zmiešate,

vezmete papier, namočíte ho, vysušíte

and you can detect cancer.

a môžete diagnostikovať rakovinu.

(Aplauz)

(Applause)

Then, suddenly, a thought occurred

Potom mi zrazu napadlo čosi,

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

čo trošku skazilo môj úžasný plán.

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

Nemôžem robiť výskum rakoviny

na kuchynskej linke.

My mom wouldn't really like that.

Mamka by z toho nebola nadšená.

So instead, I decided to go for a lab.

Tak som sa rozhodol ísť do labáku.

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

Spísal som rozpočet, zoznam materiálu,

časový rozvrh a postup

and I emailed it to 200 different professors

a poslal to e-mailom 200 profesorom

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

na Univerzitu Johna Hopkinsa

do Národného inštitútu pre zdravie,

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

proste každému, kto má niečo dočinenia s rakovinou pankreasu.

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

Sedel som a čakal na prílev pozitívnych odpovedí,

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

pochvál, že som génius,

ktorý všetkých zachráni.

And --

A... (Smiech)

(Laughter)

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

Musel som čeliť realite.

Za niečo viac než mesiac

I got 199 rejections out of those 200 emails.

som dostal odmietavú odpoveď na 199 z 200 e-mailov.

Istý profesor si dôkladne prešiel celý postup -

One professor even went through my entire procedure,

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

- ani neviem, kde si našiel toľko času -

and he went through and said why each and every step

prešiel si ho a vysvetlil mi, prečo je každý jeden krok

was like the worst mistake I could ever make.

to najhoršie, čo sa dá urobiť.

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

Profesori o mojej práci očividne nezmýšľali

tak dobre ako ja.

Ale našlo sa aj svetlo na konci tunela.

However, there is a silver lining.

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

Istý profesor povedal: „Možno ti pomôžem, chlapče."

So, I went in that direction.

Chytil som sa toho.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

As you can never say no to a kid.

Lebo deťom predsa nepoviete nie.

And so then, three months later,

A potom, o 3 mesiace neskôr,

I finally nailed down a harsh deadline with this guy,

som si s profesorom dohodol termín

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

a prišiel do jeho labáku,

celý natešený som si sadol

I start opening my mouth and talking,

a len čo som otvoril ústa,

zavolal ďalšieho vedca s PhD.

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

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

Zrazu bola miestnosť plná ľudí s doktorátom,

and they're just firing these questions at me,

ktorí ma zasypávali otázkami,

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

až som sa cítil ako keby som prišiel z cirkusu.

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

V malinkej kancelárii sa so mnou a profesorom

tlačili 20 doktori

crammed into this tiny office space,

with them firing these rapid-fire questions at me,

a zasypávali ma otázkami,

trying to sink my procedure.

aby podkopali moju teóriu.

How unlikely is that? I mean, pshhh.

Ako nepravdepodobne to znie?

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

However, subjecting myself to that interrogation --

Po tomto výsluchu,

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

keď som odpovedal na všetky otázky,

občas som len hádal, ale trafil som sa,

but I got them right --

som konečne dostal priestor v labáku.

and I finally landed the lab space I needed.

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

No čoskoro som zistil,

že v mojom geniálnom postupe

had something like a million holes in it,

je asi milión medzier

and over the course of seven months,

a v priebehu 7 mesiacov,

I painstakingly filled each and every one of those holes.

som ich všetky jednu po druhej zaplnil.

The result?

Výsledok? Malý papierový test,

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

čo stojí 3 centy a trvá 5 minút.

This makes it 168 times faster,

Čiže je 168 ráz rýchlejší,

over 26,000 times less expensive,

viac ako 26 000 ráz lacnejší

and over 400 times more sensitive than our current standard

a viac než 400 ráz citlivejší

než štandardný test na rakovinu pankreasu.

for pancreatic cancer detection.

(Aplauz)

(Applause)

One of the best parts of the sensor, though,

Najlepšie na teste však je,

že dosahuje 100-percentnú presnosť

is that it has close to 100 percent accuracy,

and can detect the cancer in the earliest stages,

a chorobu ním zistíte aj v ranom štádiu,

keď je šanca na prežitie ešte takmer 100 %.

when someone has close to 100 percent chance of survival.

And so in the next two to five years,

Takže za 5 rokov

this sensor could potentially lift the pancreatic cancer survival rates

by test mohol zlepšiť vyhliadky na prežitie pri rakovine pankreasu

from a dismal 5.5 percent to close to 100 percent,

zo žalostných 5,5 percenta

na takmer 100 percent.

and it would do similar for ovarian and lung cancer.

A to platí aj pre rakovinu vaječníkov a pľúc.

Ale tým sa to nekončí.

But it wouldn't stop there.

By switching out that antibody,

Ak zmeníte protilátku,

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

môžete hľadať iný proteín

a s ním inú chorobu,

potentially any disease in the entire world.

možno akúkoľvek chorobu na svete.

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

Od ochorení srdca,

až po maláriu, HIV, AIDS,

as well as other forms of cancer -- anything.

iných druhov rakoviny - čokoľvek.

And so, hopefully one day,

A dúfam, že už nikomu

we can all have that one extra uncle,

rakovina nevezme strýka,

that one mother, that one brother, sister,

mamu, brata, sestru,

a že sa budeme tešiť z člena rodiny ktorý by inak nebol medzi nami.

we can have that one more family member to love.

Zo srdca nám spadne kameň

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

that comes from pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer,

v podobe rakoviny pankreasu, vaječníkov a pľúc,

and potentially any disease.

a možno akejkoľvek choroby.

But through the Internet, anything is possible.

Na internete je možné všetko.

Theories can be shared,

Môžete sa podeliť o teórie

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

a nemusíte byť profesor

s neviemkoľkými titulmi, aby vaše nápady niekto ocenil.

to have your ideas valued.

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

Je to neutrálna pôda,

kde nezáleží na tom, ako vyzeráte, koľko máte rokov

it doesn't matter.

a či ste muž alebo žena.

It's just your ideas that count.

Záleží len na vašich myšlienkach.

Pre mňa je to všetko o používaní internetu

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

úplne novým spôsobom.

to realize that there's so much more to it

Treba si uvedomiť, že sú tam aj iné možnosti

than just posting duck-face pictures of yourself online.

ako zverejňovanie fotiek s perami vystrčenými na kačičku.

(Laughter)

Cez internet môžete zmeniť svet.

You could be changing the world.

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

Ak 15-ročné decko,

čo nevedelo ani, kde pankreas je,

could find a new way to detect pancreatic cancer --

dokázalo nájsť nový spôsob diagnostiky rakoviny,

len si predstavte, čo dokážete vy.

just imagine what you could do.

Thank you.

Ďakujem.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)