雙語：科學(xué)家研發(fā)出了新的雞，下的蛋可以抗癌

The eggs laid by a group of "pampered" hens in the UK contain something special in their whites.

英國有一些“養(yǎng)尊處優(yōu)”的母雞，它們下的蛋的蛋白里有一些特別的物質(zhì)。

After researchers from the University of Edinburgh spliced a human gene into the chickens' DNA, the animals began laying eggs boasting a significant amount of two proteins used to treat diseases including cancer in humans - and the process, they say, is far cheaper than current methods of protein production.

愛丁堡大學(xué)的研究者們向雞的DNA中插入了一段人的基因，于是這些動物下的蛋里現(xiàn)在富含兩種蛋白質(zhì)，這兩種蛋白質(zhì)能夠用來治病，其中還包括人類的癌癥。而且，他們說這個(gè)過程比現(xiàn)在生產(chǎn)蛋白質(zhì)的方法要便宜得多。

"Production from chickens can cost anywhere from 10 to 100 times less than the factories," researcher Lissa Herron told the BBC. "So hopefully we'll be looking at at least 10 times lower overall manufacturing cost."

研究員麗莎·赫隆告訴BBC說：“這種用雞來生產(chǎn)的方式的成本只有工廠生產(chǎn)的1/10-1/00。所以我們將會看到生產(chǎn)成本至少降低10倍。”

The human body naturally produces the proteins found in the new hen eggs - IFNalpha2a and macrophage-CSF, if you're wondering - and they each play an important role in the immune system.

人體天然就會制造這些雞蛋中的那兩種蛋白質(zhì)——你可能好奇它們叫什么，它們叫IFNalpha2a 和 macrophage-CSF——它們都在免疫系統(tǒng)里起著重要的作用。

Drugs containing both proteins are widely used by doctors to treat cancers and other diseases, but producing the proteins in the lab is difficult and expensive.

含有這兩種蛋白質(zhì)的藥物已經(jīng)被醫(yī)生們廣泛運(yùn)用來治療癌癥與其他疾病，但是在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里制造這兩種蛋白質(zhì)既困難又昂貴。

The genetically modified chickens, which live "pampered" lives in large pens, are none the wiser either, according to Herron. "As far as the chicken knows, it's just laying a normal egg," she told the BBC.

這些經(jīng)過基因改造的雞在它們的大籠子里過著“養(yǎng)尊處優(yōu)”的生活，而且根據(jù)赫隆的說法，它們完全不知道發(fā)生了什么。她對BBC說：“對于這些雞來講，它們只不過是在正常下蛋。”

"It doesn't affect its health in any way, it's just chugging away, laying eggs as normal."

“這并不會影響它們的健康，它們照常到處咯咯噠、照常下蛋。”

Though their research yielded promising results, the team believes it'd take between 10 and 20 years before regulatory agencies would approve for human use any drugs developed from their genetically modified chickens.

不過，雖然他們的研究取得了令人充滿希望的成果，但團(tuán)隊(duì)成員認(rèn)為還得等10到20年監(jiān)管部門才會批準(zhǔn)讓人類用由這些雞制造的藥物。