經常體檢也沒用?原來癌症也有"急性"

The mystery of "instant cancers"- tumors has been solved by British scientists.

英國科學家找到了“急性癌症”形成的奧祕。

The finding, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge, contradicts the long-held theory that cancer is the consequence of hundreds, or thousands, of mutations that build up over a person's lifetime. It suggests that no matter how healthy some people try to be, fates are conspiring against them. And it helps explain why some people are diagnosed with cancer only months after other tests found no trace of the disease.

傳統理論認爲癌症是人體經歷成千上萬次的細胞突變後，慢慢演化的結果。但英國劍橋附近的維爾康姆基金桑格研究所的新發現推翻了這種看法。這暗示了不管人們怎麼努力保持身體健康，也不能保證命運不會拿他們開玩笑。同時還說明了爲什麼有些人在體檢時根本沒發現癌症痕跡，但數月後突然就被診斷患上這種疾病了。

The discovery was made from the study of the genetic flaws in 750 tumors. In most cases, the damage seen to the chromosomes fitted with the conventional picture of cancer creeping up over many years. But at least one tumor in 40 didn't fit the standard pattern. Instead, the damage appeared to have been done almost overnight.

科學家們通過研究750個腫瘤的遺傳缺陷後得出以上結論的。其中大部分的案例都與傳統理論相符，染色體的損壞是常年累積的結果。然而，其中至少有1/40的腫瘤不符合“標準模式”，有的染色體似乎是在一夜之間遭到破壞的。

Researcher Dr Peter Campbell said: "The results astounded us. It seems that in a single cell, one or more of the chromosomes explode - literally into hundreds of fragments. If the cell then botches the repair, stitching the fragments back together in a 'higgledy piggledy' fashion, the damage to its cache of DNA, leaves it ripe for the rapid development of cancer."

研究人員皮特 坎貝爾博士稱：“測驗結果太讓我們驚訝了。在一個細胞裏面，染色體經過一次或者是多次爆炸成爲成千上萬個碎片。如果這個細胞開始笨拙地修補，把碎片雜亂的縫合起來，這樣就破壞了原來的DNA結構，爲癌症的快速形成提供了條件。”Dr Campbell said: "The cell should say 'that's it', and give up, but instead it tried to piece the chromosomes back together like a valuable piece of porcelain. They attempt to reconstruct the unreconstructable and they wind up with a disastrous genome that shortens the road to cancer."

坎貝爾博士表示：“這個細胞應該說'好吧，我放棄'，而不是像對待昂貴的瓷器一樣，把染色體拼接回去。細胞試圖修復一個不可修復的東西，最後造出一個災難性的、能讓癌症更快形成的基因組。”

The phenomenon is particularly common in bone cancers, where the distinct pattern of damage is seen in up to one in four cases. The researchers aren't sure what triggers such the catastrophic damage behind "instant cancers" but possible culprits include x-rays and sunburn.

這種"急性癌症"在骨癌裏面特別常見，大概1/4的患者身上都能看到明顯的染色體受損特徵模式。研究人員目前還不能肯定是什麼引起了這種“災難性的"疾病，但有嫌疑的罪魁禍首包括X光和曬傷。

Dr Campbell said: "If we can understand its roots, we may learn how to prevent that kind of cancer happening."

坎貝爾博士稱：“如果我們能瞭解根本的病因，或許就可以防止患上這種癌症。”