中國(guó)網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Future proofed: Alex Silver and daughter Scarlett. She has banked her daughter's umbilical cord blood in case of any future medical emergencies |
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Today there are about ten businesses in the UK offering to freeze and store cord blood and industry insiders estimate that up to 100,000 parents have chosen to do so in the UK. The global stem-cell market is forecast to treble to a staggering ￡40?billion by 2015. Cord blood contains embryonic stem cells. They can be made into more specialised cells and can reproduce copies of themselves almost indefinitely. There is currently research into a host of applications – from growing new organs to curing paraplegia. In theory, stem cells treat disease by replacing damaged or diseased cells. They are used in bone-marrow transplants to treat leukaemia – but in these cases, donor blood taken in the usual way is used to harvest the stem cells. To bank cord stem cells, the cord blood is extracted minutes after the birth of the baby and rushed by courier to be processed. Any cells that could be of future value are frozen at minus 180C and can then be stored for 25 years. There are no published examples of a child’s own cord blood being used to cure them of leukaemia – one of the most common childhood diseases mentioned by the banks in their sales pitches. There are two cases of successful sibling transplants for children with the hereditary condition thalassemia, where the body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin – the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. These were carried out in Singapore and Germany. Lavish promises of future treatments tend to be based on preliminary clinical trials – and should a child fall ill today, in many cases the technology doesn’t exist to actually use the harvested stem cells. In fact, some experts believe that reintroducing banked cord blood into a child could increase the chance of relapse – as disease-causing cells that existed from birth would be stored alongside useful stem cells. ‘Parents are worried that by not storing cord blood, they aren’t giving their child the best possible chance for future health,’ says leading consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician Mr Dickinson Cowan, who admits that when he first came across private banking, he thought it was a good idea. ‘I’d never recommend it now,’ he says. (Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
現(xiàn)在英國(guó)約有十家公司提供冷凍儲(chǔ)存臍帶血的服務(wù)，業(yè)內(nèi)人士估計(jì)，英國(guó)有10萬(wàn)父母選擇為孩子保存臍帶血。據(jù)預(yù)測(cè)，全球干細(xì)胞市場(chǎng)份額在2015年將多達(dá)400億英鎊，增至原來(lái)的三倍。 臍帶血含有胎兒的干細(xì)胞。它們可以發(fā)展成更專門的細(xì)胞，而且?guī)缀跄軣o(wú)限地被復(fù)制。目前有針對(duì)一系列應(yīng)用的研究——從生成新器官到治療截癱。理論上，干細(xì)胞可通過(guò)替換受損或病變的細(xì)胞來(lái)治療疾病。它們被用在骨髓移植中，用來(lái)治療白血病。不過(guò)，在這些情況下，干細(xì)胞從捐贈(zèng)者按正常方式抽取的血液中獲得。 為了儲(chǔ)存臍帶血干細(xì)胞，臍帶血在嬰兒出生后數(shù)分鐘內(nèi)被抽取，并迅速由專遞員送去處理。任何在未來(lái)會(huì)有使用價(jià)值的細(xì)胞都要在零下180攝氏度的環(huán)境中儲(chǔ)存，這樣才能保存25年。 當(dāng)前公開報(bào)道中還沒有能夠用孩子自己的臍帶血治療白血病的例子。白血病是臍帶血庫(kù)在他們的廣告宣傳中提到的最常見的兒童疾病。曾經(jīng)有兩例患遺傳的地中海貧血病的小孩被成功移植了兄弟/姐妹的干細(xì)胞。地中海貧血病患者的身體會(huì)產(chǎn)生異常的血紅蛋白（血紅蛋白是紅細(xì)胞中運(yùn)載氧氣的蛋白質(zhì)）。這兩次成功移植分別發(fā)生在新加坡和德國(guó)。 臍帶血給人帶來(lái)的在未來(lái)治療中的巨大希望一般是基于初步的臨床試驗(yàn)，但假如現(xiàn)在某個(gè)小孩生病了，大多情況下并不存在可以真正運(yùn)用儲(chǔ)存的干細(xì)胞的技術(shù)。事實(shí)上，一些專家認(rèn)為，將儲(chǔ)存的臍帶血重新輸入孩子的體內(nèi)會(huì)增加舊病復(fù)發(fā)的幾率，因?yàn)閺某錾鷷r(shí)就存在的致病細(xì)胞將和有用的干細(xì)胞一起保存在臍帶血內(nèi)。 首席顧問(wèn)醫(yī)生、婦產(chǎn)科專家迪金森?考恩先生說(shuō)：“父母?jìng)儞?dān)心如果不儲(chǔ)存臍帶血，他們就沒有為孩子的未來(lái)健康提供最好的機(jī)會(huì)?！笨级鞒姓J(rèn)，當(dāng)他最開始聽說(shuō)自體庫(kù)時(shí)，他認(rèn)為這是個(gè)好主意。但他說(shuō)：“我現(xiàn)在絕對(duì)不會(huì)建議儲(chǔ)存臍帶血?！?/p> 相關(guān)閱讀 （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯：Julie） |
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Vocabulary: cord blood: 臍帶血 treble: 變成三倍 staggering: 巨大的；難以相信的 embryonic: 胎兒的 stem cell: 干細(xì)胞 a host of: 眾多，大量 paraplegia: 截癱，下身麻痹 leukaemia: 白血病 courier: 專遞員，快遞員 pitch: 推銷 thalassemia: 地中海貧血 haemoglobin: 血紅蛋白 relapse: 舊病復(fù)發(fā) gynaecologist: 婦科醫(yī)生 obstetrician: 產(chǎn)科醫(yī)師 private banking: 自體庫(kù)，是相對(duì)于臍帶血庫(kù)的公共庫(kù)而言的。公共庫(kù)存儲(chǔ)的是產(chǎn)婦自愿無(wú)償捐贈(zèng)的臍帶血，自體庫(kù)存儲(chǔ)的是產(chǎn)婦自愿為個(gè)人或家庭定向保存的臍帶血。 |
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