用干細胞讓失明者恢復視覺

A man who lost sight in one eye in a fight 15 years ago has had his vision restored by British scientists using stem cells.

一名男子的一只眼睛在15年前的一次打斗中失明，近期英國科學家利用干細胞幫助他恢復了視覺。

The treatment, which has been developed at Newcastle University, could help thousands of people who suffer severely impaired vision through a condition known as Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency. The condition is caused by damage to the surface of the cornea from disease, chemical burning or physical injury.

紐卡斯爾大學(Newcastle University)研究出來的這一療法，可幫助數以千計因“角膜緣干細胞缺損”(LSCD)而導致視力嚴重受損的人。角膜緣干細胞缺損的原因包括疾病、化學性灼傷或物理傷害造成的角膜表面受損。

Russell Turnbull, whose right eye was burned in an ammonia attack after he intervened in the fight on a bus, is one of eight patients who have undergone the stem cell treatment. He said: “This has transformed my life . . . I'm working, I can go jet skiing and also ride horses.

羅素·特恩布爾(Russell Turnbull)是八名接受干細胞治療的病人之一，他在調停一起公共汽車上的打斗事件時，右眼被氨灼傷。他說：“治療改變了我的生活……現在我可以去工作，可以去滑雪，還可以騎馬。”

“The operation has improved the sight in my right eye from 10 per cent to 90 per cent. Best of all it has removed the constant pain and light sensitivity.”

“手術將我右眼的視覺從10%提高到了90%。最棒的是，它消除了持續(xù)疼痛和對光敏感的問題。”

Stem cell research with embryos has long been controversial, but this technique uses a patient's own cells. The Newcastle team took a small biopsy from the cornea of Mr Turnbull's good eye and multiplied its stem cells by 400 times. When the cells were transplanted back into the damaged eye, they restored the cornea.

胚胎干細胞研究一直處于爭議之中，但這種療法使用的是患者自身的細胞。紐卡斯爾的研究團隊從特恩布爾健康眼睛的角膜上攝取了一個小組織切片，然后培養(yǎng)出400倍數量的干細胞。當這些細胞被移植到受損的眼睛后，它們修復了角膜。

Sajjad Ahmad, the scientist who developed the technique, said its success showed the scope for using the patient's own stem cells to treat the eye. Details are published in the journal Stem Cells. However, the technique depends on having a healthy eye from which to extract stem cells and is not suitable for retinal problems such as macular degeneration.

開發(fā)出這項技術的科學家薩賈德·艾哈邁德(Sajjad Ahmad)表示，手術成功表明了利用患者自身干細胞治療眼科疾病的空間。關于本次手術的詳細資料已發(fā)表在《干細胞》(Stem Cells)刊物上。然而，這項技術依賴于患者擁有一只健康眼睛，以便從中提取干細胞，而不適合視網膜黃斑變性等視網膜疾病的病人。

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