第2646期:Gene Treatment Lets Children Deaf at Birth Hear(1)

Gene treatments are being credited with permitting several children born with deafness to hear again. 允许几个患有耳聋的孩子再次听到基因治疗。 Gene therapy is a medical treatment that aims to change a few of a patient’s genes to cure a genetic disease. 基因治疗是一种医疗，旨在改变一些患者的基因来治愈遗传疾病。 A small study recently published in The Lancet reported improvements in the hearing in five of six children who were treated in China. 最近在《柳叶刀》上发表的一项小型研究报告说，在中国接受治疗的六名儿童中有五名听证会有所改善。 Around the same time, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in the U.S. eastern state of Pennsylvania announced similar improvements in an 11-year-old boy treated there. And earlier, Chinese researchers published a study showing similar improvements in two other children. 大约在同一时间，美国东部宾夕法尼亚州的费城儿童医院宣布在那里接受治疗的11岁男孩进行了类似的改善。 早些时候，中国研究人员发表了一项研究，显示了另外两个孩子的相似改善。 The experimental methods, or therapies, target only one rare condition. But scientists say similar treatments could someday help many more children with other kinds of deafness caused by genes. 实验方法或疗法仅针对一种罕见条件。 但是科学家说，有一天类似的治疗可能会帮助更多的儿童患有基因引起的其他耳聋。 Around the world, 34 million children have deafness or hearing loss. And information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says genes are responsible for up to 60 percent of cases. 在世界各地，有3400万儿童有耳聋或听力损失。 美国疾病控制与预防中心的信息说，基因最多造成60％的病例。 Deafness caused by genes is passed down from parents to children. It is called hereditary deafness. It is the latest condition scientists are targeting with gene therapy. Gene therapy is already approved to treat illnesses such as sickle cell disease and severe hemophilia. 由基因引起的耳聋从父母传给孩子。 这被称为遗传性耳聋。 这是科学家使用基因治疗的最新疾病。 基因疗法已经被批准用于治疗诸如镰状细胞疾病和严重血友病之类的疾病。 Children with hereditary deafness often get a device called a cochlear implant that helps them hear sound. 具有遗传性耳聋的孩子通常会得到一种称为人工耳蜗的设备，该设备可以帮助他们听到声音。“No treatment could reverse hearing loss…That’s why we were always trying to develop a therapy,” said Zheng-Yi Chen of Boston’s Mass Eye and Ear, a treatment center for eye and ear problems. He is a writer of the study published in The Lancet. “We couldn’t be more happy or excited about the results.” “没有治疗可以逆转听力的损失……这就是为什么我们总是试图开发一种疗法的原因，”波士顿大众眼睛和耳朵的郑杨说。 他是该研究发表在柳叶刀上的作者。 “我们对结果感到高兴或兴奋。”The team recorded videos of patients. One shows a baby, who formerly could not hear at all, looking back in response to a doctor’s words six weeks after treatment. Another shows a little girl 13 weeks after treatment repeating father, mother, grandmother, sister, and “I love you.”团队录制了病人的视频。 一个人显示了一个婴儿，他以前根本听不到，在治疗六周后回顾一下医生的话。 另一个人在治疗后13周表明了一个小女孩，重复父亲，母亲，祖母，姐姐和“我爱你”。 All the children in the experiments have a condition that is believed to cause two to eight percent of hereditary deafness. It is caused by changes in a gene responsible for an inner ear protein called otoferlin, which helps hair cells send sound signals to the brain.实验中的所有孩子都有一种据信造成遗传性耳聋的二至8％的疾病。 它是由负责内耳蛋白的基因变化引起的，该蛋白称为Otoferlin，该蛋白可以帮助毛细胞向大脑发送声学信号。