Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | Laura Indolfi

翻译人员: jing liu 校对人员: 朗 李

在座各位

By raising your hand,

how many of you know at least one person on the screen?

知道至少一个屏幕中所示的人，请举手

Wow, it's almost a full house.

哇，基本上每个人都举手了

It's true, they are very famous in their fields.

没错，他们在各自的领域都十分有名

And do you know what all of them have in common?

你们知道他们有什么共同点吗？

They all died of pancreatic cancer.

他们都死于胰腺癌

However, although it's very, very sad this news,

尽管这特别特别可悲

it's also thanks to their personal stories

但也正是由于他们的自身经历

that we have raised awareness of how lethal this disease can be.

让我们意识到胰腺癌有多致命

It's become the third cause of cancer deaths,

胰腺癌已成为癌症致死的第三大原因

and only eight percent of the patients will survive beyond five years.

病人的五年及以上存活率只有百分之八

That's a very tiny number,

这个比例是极小的

especially if you compare it with breast cancer,

尤其是和存活率接近90%的乳腺癌相比

where the survival rate is almost 90 percent.

So it doesn't really come as a surprise

所以，被诊断得了胰腺癌

that being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

意味着几乎是被判了死刑

means facing an almost certain death sentence.

这也就不足为怪了

What's shocking, though, is that in the last 40 years,

然而，让人震惊的是

在过去的40年，这个数字一点都没有变

this number hasn't changed a bit,

while much more progress has been made

而其它肿瘤的治疗已经有了长足进步

with other types of tumors.

So how can we make pancreatic cancer treatment more effective?

那么我们该如何让胰腺癌治疗更有效呢？

As a biomedical entrepreneur,

作为一名生物医学企业家

I like to work on problems that seem impossible,

我希望去解决那些看起来不可能解决的问题

understanding their limitations

了解那些问题的限制因素

and trying to find new, innovative solutions

并找到新的、创新的解决方案

that can change their outcome.

去改变结果

The first piece of bad news with pancreatic cancer

第一个关于胰腺癌的坏消息是

is that your pancreas is in the middle of your belly, literally.

胰腺正好位于腹部的中间位置

It's depicted in orange on the screen.

如屏幕上橙色部分所示

But you can barely see it

但是如果我不把胰腺前面的其它器官移开

until I remove all the other organs in front.

你几乎看不到它

It's also surrounded by many other vital organs,

而且它被很多其它重要的器官包围着

like the liver, the stomach, the bile duct.

譬如肝、胃、胆管

And the ability of the tumor to grow into those organs

肿瘤会扩散到这些器官

is the reason why pancreatic cancer

这也胰腺癌是最痛苦的肿瘤之一的原因

is one of the most painful tumor types.

The hard-to-reach location also prevents the doctor

另外，胰腺难以企及的位置

使得医生很难采取例行的治疗方式

from surgically removing it,

as is routinely done for breast cancer, for example.

例如对肺癌，通过手术摘除肿瘤

So all of these reasons leave chemotherapy as the only option

上述各种原因

使得化疗成为了胰腺癌患者的唯一选择

for the pancreatic cancer patient.

This brings us to the second piece of bad news.

第二个坏消息是

Pancreatic cancer tumors have very few blood vessels.

胰腺癌肿瘤的血管极少

Why should we care about the blood vessel of a tumor?

为什么我们要关心肿瘤的血管呢？

Let's think for a second how chemotherapy works.

让我们想想化疗的过程

The drug is injected in the vein

药物被注入静脉

and it navigates throughout the body until it reaches the tumor site.

然后流遍整个身体直到到达肿瘤处

It's like driving on a highway, trying to reach a destination.

这就像在高速路上行驶

努力到达目的地一样

如果你的目的地在高速路上没有出口怎么办？

But what if your destination doesn't have an exit on the highway?

You will never get there.

你将永远到不了目的地

And that's exactly the same problem

对于化疗和胰腺癌来说也一样

for chemotherapy and pancreatic cancer.

The drugs navigate throughout all of your body.

药物流遍你的整个身体

They will reach healthy organs,

它们进入了健康器官

resulting in high toxic effect for the patients overall,

给病人整体带来很高的毒副作用

but very little will go to the tumor.

但是极少药物作用到肿瘤

Therefore, the efficacy is very limited.

因此治疗效果很有限

To me, it seems very counterintuitive to have a whole-body treatment

我认为，为了治疗某一个器官而对全身采取治疗

是非常有悖常理的

to target a specific organ.

However, in the last 40 years,

然而，在过去的40年里

a lot of money, research and effort have gone towards

大量的金钱、研究、努力被投入到

finding new, powerful drugs to treat pancreatic cancer,

找寻新的、药效更强的治疗胰腺癌的药物

but nothing has been done in changing the way

而对于改变治疗病人的手段

却没有任何投入

we deliver them to the patient.

So after two pieces of bad news,

说完两个坏消息

我想告诉你们一个好消息，希望是的

I'm going to give you good news, hopefully.

With a collaborator at MIT

通过麻省理工大学和位于波士顿的

and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston,

麻省总医院的合作研究

we have revolutionized the way we treat cancer

我们已经革新了治疗癌症的方式

by making localized drug delivery a reality.

使得定位给药成为现实

We are basically parachuting you on top of your destination,

总的来说就是，我们用降落伞将你在目的地上方直接投送出去

avoiding your having to drive all around the highway.

避免你得在高速路上七拐八拐

We have embedded the drug into devices that look like this one.

我们将药物嵌入类似这样的装置中

They are flexible enough that they can be folded

它们极为柔软

可以将它们折叠放入导管中

to fit into the catheter,

so the doctor can implant it directly on top of the tumor

医生可以通过微创手术

将它直接植入肿瘤上方

with minimally invasive surgery.

But they are solid enough that once they are positioned

同时这种装置又足够坚固

一旦它们被放置到肿瘤上

on top of the tumor,

它们就像一个笼子

they will act as a cage.

They will actually physically prevent the tumor

通过物理方式阻止肿瘤进入到其它器官

from entering other organs,

controlling the metastasis.

从而控制癌细胞扩散

The devices are also biodegradable.

另外，这种装置是可生物降解的

That means that once in the body,

也就是说，一旦进入人体

they start dissolving,

它们就开始降解

delivering the drug only locally, slowly and more effectively

定点地、缓慢地释放药物

相比于目前的全身治疗方式

than what is done with the current whole-body treatment.

这种给药方式更加有效

In pre-clinical study, we have demonstrated

临床前研究表明

that this localized approach

这种定位给药方式

is able to improve by 12 times the response to treatment.

可以提升12倍治疗效果

So we took a drug that is already known

我们使用某已知药物

and by just delivering it locally where it's needed the most,

将它定点放于最需要的部位

we allow a response that is 12 times more powerful,

使得治疗效果增强了12倍

reducing the systemic toxic effect.

并且减少了对身体系统的毒副作用

我们正致力于让这项技术更上一层楼

We are working relentlessly to bring this technology to the next level.

We are finalizing the pre-clinical testing

我们即将完成临床前测试

和向食品药品监督管理局申请临床试验前

and the animal model required prior to asking the FDA for approval

for clinical trials.

规定的动物实验

Currently, the majority of patients will die from pancreatic cancer.

目前，绝大部分胰腺癌患者都会死于此病

We are hoping that one day,

我们希望，有一天

we can reduce their pain, extend their life

我们可以减轻他们的痛苦，延长他们的生命

and potentially make pancreatic cancer

使胰腺癌成为一种可治愈的疾病

a curable disease.

By rethinking the way we deliver the drug,

反思我们的给药方式

we don't only make it more powerful and less toxic,

我们不仅使其更有效、更小副作用

we are also opening the door to finding new innovative solutions

我们也为胰腺癌患者和更多其他患者

所面临的各种不可能解决的问题

for almost all other impossible problems

in pancreatic cancer patients and beyond.

打开了找寻革新解决方案的大门

Thank you very much.

谢谢大家

(Applause)