诺贝尔医学奖获得者，对细胞如何感知氧气的深刻发现

诺贝尔医学奖获得者，对细胞如何感知氧气的深刻发现

The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded Monday to three physician-scientists from the United States and Britain - William G. Kaelin Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza - "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability."

本周一，诺贝尔生理学或医学奖颁给了来自美国和英国的三位医学科学家，他们分别是小威廉G.卡林、彼得J.拉特克利夫和格雷格L.塞门扎，“因为他们发现了细胞感知和适应氧气供应的方式。”

The discoveries by the trio illuminated what the Nobel Committee called "one of life's most essential adaptive processes," answering profound questions about how the body works and providing potential new therapeutic avenues to treat cancer and other diseases.

三人的发现阐明了诺贝尔委员会所称的“生命最基本的适应过程之一”，回答了关于身体如何工作的深刻问题，并为治疗癌症和其他疾病提供了潜在的新治疗途径。

诺贝尔奖官网

The three scientists, working independently, revealed the cascade of molecular events that allow cells to detect and respond to different levels of oxygen. That allows the human body to adapt to thinner air at high altitude by generating more red blood cells to carry oxygen.

这三位独立工作的科学家揭示了一系列的分子事件，这些事件使细胞能够检测不同水平的氧气并对其作出反应。这使得人体能够产生更多的红细胞来输送氧气，从而适应高空稀薄的空气。

But it can also go awry in disease, providing new targets for treatment: Cancer cells exploit these molecular switches to thrive, for example, and increasing cells' tolerance for low oxygen could offer a way to treat heart attacks and strokes.

但它也可能在疾病中出错，为治疗提供了新的靶点：例如，癌细胞利用这些分子开关茁壮成长，而提高细胞对低氧的耐受性可能提供一种治疗心脏病和中风的方法。