医疗英语：澳科学家研制抗衰老药有突破

澳大利亚新南威尔士大学的一位教授最近在抗衰老药物研究方面取得突破性进展，人类想要长生不老的愿望或许终有一天会成为现实。这位教授发现，人体内有一种抗衰老酶能够防止衰老性疾病，同时延长寿命。这位教授发现，他研究中使用的117种药物均通过相同的原理作用于这种酶。这一发现说明，研究人员可以通过深入研究研发出一种可以治疗某种重大疾病、同时防止其他多种疾病的药物，从而达到延缓衰老的目的。目前，一系列病理试验均显乐观，这种药物有望在2018年以前面世。

Man's search for immortality is another step closer to reality with a major breakthrough in creating a drug capable of fighting the aging process -- a drug that could be available before 2018 -- after pioneering work led by an Australian researcher with the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

The study led by Professor David Sinclair, from UNSW Medicine, has revealed that a single anti-aging enzyme in the body has the potential to prevent age-related diseases and extend lifespans.

The paper released this month, shows all of the 117 drugs tested work on the single enzyme through a common mechanism.

These consequences are far-ranging and suggest that an entirely new class of anti-aging drugs are now viable.

Drugs that could ultimately prevent the great diseases of our lifetime -- from cancer, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's disease and even the burden of modern lifestyles -- type 2 diabetes.

"Ultimately, these drugs would treat one disease, but unlike drugs of today, they would prevent 20 others," Professor Sinclair said.

"In effect, they would slow aging."

Trials focusing on a series of maladies have shown promise already, and the list is a veritable who's who of the great diseases of the 21st century.

"In the history of pharmaceuticals, there has never been a drug that tweaks an enzyme to make it run faster," said Professor Sinclair, a geneticist with the Department of Pharmacology at UNSW.

The technology was sold to pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in 2008.

Four thousand synthetic activators, which are 100 times as potent as a single glass of red wine, have been developed with the best three in human trials today.

"Our drugs can mimic the benefits of diet and exercise, but there is no impact on weight," said Professor Sinclair, who has isolated diabetes as the first disease to be targeted.

There have been limited trials in people with type 2 diabetes with measurable benefits to the subject's metabolism.

Professor Sinclair hopes that one day, the drugs could be taken orally as a preventative.

Effectively, a pill that prevents the illnesses associated with natural aging.

In animal models, overweight mice given synthetic resveratrol were able to run twice as far as slim mice and they lived 15 percent longer.

"Now we are looking at whether there are benefits for those who are already healthy. Things there are also looking promising," said Professor Sinclair, who also heads the Lowy Cancer Research Centre's Laboratory for aging Research at UNSW.

"We're finding that aging isn't the irreversible affliction that we thought it was... Some of us could live to 150, but we won’t get there without more research."