How we could teach our bodies to heal faster | Kaitlyn Sadtler

翻译人员: Ziqing Ye 校对人员: jacks peng

What if you could take a pill or a vaccine

如果你吃颗药或者是打一针，

and, just like getting over a cold,

就能让身上的伤口更快痊愈，

you could heal your wounds faster?

就像治好了感冒那样，听起来如何？

Today, if we have an operation or an accident,

今天，如果我们要做个手术，或出了事故，

we're in the hospital for weeks,

通常要在医院里住上几个星期，

and often left with scars and painful side effects

而且经常留下疤痕， 还要忍受痛苦的副作用，

of our inability to regenerate or regrow healthy, uninjured organs.

因为我们的身体无法再生 健康的，完好无损的器官。

I work to create materials

我的工作是创造不同的材料

that instruct our immune system to give us the signals to grow new tissues.

来指导我们的免疫系统，向身体 传达信号，生长出新的组织。

Just like vaccines instruct our body to fight disease,

就像疫苗能指导我们的 身体对抗疾病一样，

we could instead instruct our immune system

我们也可以指导自身的免疫系统

to build tissues and more quickly heal wounds.

去生成组织，更快地治愈伤口。

Now, regrowing body parts out of nowhere might seem like magic,

凭空再生出身体器官 看起来似乎很神奇，

but there are several organisms that can achieve this feat.

但实际上，有许多生物都可以做到这点。

Some lizards can regrow their tails,

有些蜥蜴能重新长出尾巴，

the humble salamander can completely regenerate their arm,

小小的蝾螈可以 完全再生它们的手臂，

and even us mere humans can regrow our liver

甚至我们人类也可以在

after losing more than half of its original mass.

失去超过一半的肝脏后，自行复原。

To make this magic a bit closer to reality,

为了让这个魔术般的技能更现实，

I'm investigating how our body can heal wounds and build tissue

我正在研究我们的身体 如何通过免疫系统的指令

through instructions from the immune system.

来治愈伤口和构建组织。

From a scrape on your knee to that annoying sinus infection,

从膝盖的擦伤到恼人的鼻窦感染，

our immune system defends our body from danger.

免疫系统保护我们的身体免遭危险。

I'm an immunologist,

我是一名免疫学家，

and by using what I know about our body's defense system,

通过运用我对自身防御系统的了解，

I was able to identify key players

我能够识别出身体在对抗伤口和瘀伤时，

in our fight to build back our cuts and bruises.

扮演着关键角色的成员。

When looking at materials that are currently being tested

在观察测试中的

for their abilities to help regrow muscle,

帮助肌肉再生能力的材料时，

our team noticed that after treating an injured muscle with these materials,

我们的团队注意到， 用这些材料处理受伤的肌肉后，

there was a large number of immune cells

在这些材料及其周围的肌肉中

in that material and the surrounding muscle.

出现了大量的免疫细胞。

So in this case,

所以在这种情况下，

免疫细胞并没有冲向感染处去对抗细菌，

instead of the immune cells rushing off towards infection to fight bacteria,

they're rushing toward an injury.

而是聚集在了伤口处。

I discovered a specific type of immune cell,

我发现了一种特殊类型的免疫细胞，

the helper T cell,

辅助T细胞，

was present inside that material that I implanted

存在于我植入的材料中，

and absolutely critical for wound healing.

并且对伤口愈合至关重要。

Now, just like when you were a kid and you'd break your pencil

就跟你还是孩子时会弄断铅笔，

and try and tape it back together again,

然后试着把它重新粘在一起一样。

we can heal,

我们的伤口可以自行愈合，

but it might not be in the most functional way,

但可能不是以最有效的方式进行，

and we'll get a scar.

于是就会留下疤痕。

So if we don't have these helper T cells,

如果我们没有这些辅助T细胞，

instead of healthy muscle,

肌肉会在伤口里生成脂肪细胞，

our muscle develops fat cells inside of it,

而不是健康的肌肉。

and if there's fat in our muscle, it isn't as strong.

而如果我们的肌肉里有脂肪， 它就不那么强壮了。

Now, using our immune system,

而利用免疫系统，

our body could grow back without these scars

我们的身体可以在不产生 疤痕的情况下恢复，

and look like what it was before we were even injured.

并且看起来就像未受伤时一样。

I'm working to create materials

我正在努力创造一种材料，

that give us the signals to build new tissue

通过改变免疫反应

来产生信号，让我们的身体 去再生新的组织。

by changing the immune response.

We know that any time a material is implanted in our body,

我们知道，任何时候 一种物质被植入我们的身体，

the immune system will respond to it.

免疫系统就会对此做出反应。

This ranges from pacemakers to insulin pumps

这涵盖了从心脏起搏器到胰岛素泵，

to the materials that engineers are using to try and build new tissue.

再到工程师们用来尝试 构建新组织的材料。

So when I place that material, or scaffold, in the body,

所以当我把那种材料， 或者支架，放入体内时，

the immune system creates a small environment of cells and proteins

免疫系统就会创造一个 由细胞和蛋白质组成的小环境，

that can change the way that our stem cells behave.

它可以改变我们干细胞的行为方式。

Now, just like the weather affects our daily activities,

就像天气会影响我们的日常活动一样，

like going for a run

比如出去跑步还是呆在家里，

or staying inside and binge-watching an entire TV show on Netflix,

在Netflix（付费视频网站）上 看一整套电视节目，

the immune environment of a scaffold

支架的免疫环境

affects the way that our stem cells grow and develop.

也会影响我们干细胞 生长发育的方式。

If we have the wrong signals,

如果我们有错误的信号，

say the Netflix signals,

比如Netflix的信号，

we get fat cells instead of muscle.

我们就会得到脂肪细胞，而不是肌肉。

These scaffolds are made of a variety of different things,

这些支架由各种不同的材料制成，

from plastics to naturally derived materials,

从塑料到天然材料，

nanofibers of varying thicknesses,

不同厚度的纳米纤维，

sponges that are more or less porous,

多孔或少孔的海绵结构，

gels of different stiffnesses.

不同硬度的凝胶。

And researchers can even make the materials

研究人员甚至可以让这些材料

release different signals over time.

随时间释放不同的信号。

So in other words, we can orchestrate this Broadway show of cells

换句话说，我们可以通过给细胞们

by giving them the correct stage, cues and props

正确的舞台，线索和道具来 编排细胞的百老汇表演，

that can be changed for different tissues,

这些道具可以为不同的组织做出改变，

just like a producer would change the set

就像制片人会为分别为 《悲惨世界》和《恐怖小店》

for "Les Mis" versus "Little Shop of Horrors."

设计不同的布景一样。

I'm combining specific types of signals

我会结合一些特定类型的信号，

that mimic how our body responds to injury to help us regenerate.

来模拟我们身体对损伤的反应 来帮助我们再生。

In the future, we could see a scar-proof band-aid,

在未来，我们可以看到 一种防疤痕创可贴，

a moldable muscle filler or even a wound-healing vaccine.

一种可塑形的肌肉填充物， 甚至一种帮助伤口愈合疫苗。

Now, we aren't going to wake up tomorrow and be able to heal like Wolverine.

现在，我们还无法做到明早醒来 便能像金刚狼那样痊愈。

Probably not next Tuesday, either.

估计再过一周也不会。

But with these advances,

但随着这些进步，

and working with our immune system to help build tissue and heal wounds,

结合我们的免疫系统在 构建组织和愈合伤口上的帮助，

we could begin seeing products on the market

我们会开始看到市场上的一些产品，

that work with our body's defense system to help us regenerate,

可以与我们身体的 防御系统协作，帮助我们再生，

and maybe one day be able to keep pace with a salamander.

也许有一天，我们能够跟上蝾螈的步伐。

Thank you.

谢谢你们。

（掌声）

(Applause)