細思恐極：科學家發(fā)現(xiàn)甜食與癌癥有關！

There's a long-known relationship between cancer and sugar, but figuring out exactly how it works has proven elusive . Now, thanks to a nine-year research project, scientists have made a breakthrough.

甜食和癌癥之間的關聯(lián)性早已為人所知，但它發(fā)揮作用的機制卻一直破朔迷離。幸而現(xiàn)在科學家們通過一項歷時九年的研究，做出了突破性的進展。

They've narrowed down the mechanism whereby cancer cells metabolise sugar.

對癌癥細胞如何代謝糖分這一謎題，研究者甄選出了一些可能性。

The focus of the new research was on a metabolic effect that has been understood for over 90 years.

這項新研究的著重點是癌癥細胞的代謝功能，盡管人們知曉這種代謝功能已經90年了。

We know that almost all the cells in the human body require energy, and they derive this energy from the sugars in the food we eat. Cancer cells also require sugars to grow. But their glucose intake is a lot higher than that of healthy cells, as is the rate at which they ferment that glucose into lactic acid.

我們知道幾乎所有的人體細胞都需要能量，它們通過我們吃的食物中的糖分獲取能量。癌癥細胞生長也需要糖分，但是它們攝取葡萄糖的分量明顯多于健康細胞，它們將糖分轉化成乳酸的速率也明顯高于后者。

This is known as the Warburg effect, and it may, scientists have hypothesised, have something to do with cancer's rapid growth rate. But it's hard to determine whether the Warburg effect is a symptom or a cause of cancer.

這一現(xiàn)象被稱為“瓦博格效應”，科學家們猜測，其原意或許與癌癥細胞生長速度特別快有關。但科學家們很難斷定，“瓦博格效應”是癌癥的一種癥狀還是誘發(fā)原因。

It's been proposed that the growth of cancer cells may be stymied by starving them of sugar, but the problem with that is there's currently no method of cutting off the supply to cancer cells while keeping it open to normal cells.

曾有科學家提出建議，通過阻止癌癥細胞攝取糖分來抑制他們的生長，但問題是目前還沒有辦法一方面切斷對癌癥細胞的糖分供給，另一方面保證對健康細胞的供給暢通。

This is why the biological mechanism behind the increased glucose metabolism is important. It may hold the key to starving cancer cells while keeping healthy cells functioning. We're not there yet, but this research brings us a critical step closer.

這也就是為什么研究癌癥細胞加速的糖分代謝這一生物機制非常重要。這或許是找到抑制癌癥細胞生長同時維持正常細胞運作的方法的關鍵。我們還沒有找到最終解答，但這項研究讓我們走出了重要的一步。

"Our research reveals how the hyperactive sugar consumption of cancerous cells leads to a vicious cycle of continued stimulation of cancer development and growth," said researcher Johan Thevelein in Belgium.

來自比利時的研究人員Johan Thevelein稱，“我們的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，癌癥細胞對糖分的超量攝取會刺激癌癥的發(fā)展和生長，從而形成了一種惡性循環(huán)。”

"Thus, it is able to explain the correlation between the strength of the Warburg effect and tumour aggressiveness. This link between sugar and cancer has sweeping consequences. Our results provide a foundation for future research in this domain, which can now be performed with a much more precise and relevant focus."

“因此，我們找到了瓦博格效應與癌癥的攻擊性之間的關聯(lián)。糖分和癌癥之間的關系有著深遠的影響。我們的研究成果為將來這一領域的研究提供了平臺，今后的研究將具備更高的準確度，也更能分清主次。”

The team used yeast cells for its research – specifically looking at the 'Ras' gene family, a family of genes that is present in all animal cells, including human cancer cells. This makes the study of Ras mutations in yeast an increasingly useful tool in cancer research.

這支團隊在研究中使用的是酵母細胞——特別采用了ras基因家族的細胞，這個基因家族存在于所有動物細胞中，特別是人類的癌癥細胞。對酵母細胞中Ras變異的研究將越來越成為癌癥研究的有力武器。

Yeast also has highly active sugar metabolism, yet doesn't have the additional regulatory processes of mammalian cells that can conceal underlying processes.

酵母細胞還具有高活性的糖分代謝功能，同時又不像哺乳動物細胞那樣表現(xiàn)出附加的規(guī)范機制，這種規(guī)范機制會隱藏糖分代謝的過程。

The researchers found that the yeast that had an overactive influx of glucose caused the Ras proteins to activate too much, which would then allow the cells to grow at an accelerated rate.

研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)，過度攝入葡萄糖的酵母細胞會使Ras蛋白質過于興奮，從而導致細胞加速生長。

"The findings are not sufficient to identify the primary cause of the Warburg effect," the researchers added. "Further research is needed to find out whether this primary cause is also conserved in yeast cells."

“這項研究還不足以證明‘瓦博格效應’”的主因”，研究者們還補充說，“是否能在酵母細胞中找到瓦博格效應的主因，這還需要進一步的研究。”