经常体检也没用?原来癌症也有"急性"

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

英国科学家找到了“急性癌症”形成的奥秘。

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.

传统理论认为癌症是人体经历成千上万次的细胞突变后，慢慢演化的结果。但英国剑桥附近的维尔康姆基金桑格研究所的新发现推翻了这种看法。这暗示了不管人们怎么努力保持身体健康，也不能保证命运不会拿他们开玩笑。同时还说明了为什么有些人在体检时根本没发现癌症痕迹，但数月后突然就被诊断患上这种疾病了。

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.

科学家们通过研究750个肿瘤的遗传缺陷后得出以上结论的。其中大部分的案例都与传统理论相符，染色体的损坏是常年累积的结果。然而，其中至少有1/40的肿瘤不符合“标准模式”，有的染色体似乎是在一夜之间遭到破坏的。

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."

研究人员皮特 坎贝尔博士称：“测验结果太让我们惊讶了。在一个细胞里面，染色体经过一次或者是多次爆炸成为成千上万个碎片。如果这个细胞开始笨拙地修补，把碎片杂乱的缝合起来，这样就破坏了原来的DNA结构，为癌症的快速形成提供了条件。”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."

坎贝尔博士表示：“这个细胞应该说'好吧，我放弃'，而不是像对待昂贵的瓷器一样，把染色体拼接回去。细胞试图修复一个不可修复的东西，最后造出一个灾难性的、能让癌症更快形成的基因组。”

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.

这种"急性癌症"在骨癌里面特别常见，大概1/4的患者身上都能看到明显的染色体受损特征模式。研究人员目前还不能肯定是什么引起了这种“灾难性的"疾病，但有嫌疑的罪魁祸首包括X光和晒伤。

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

坎贝尔博士称：“如果我们能了解根本的病因，或许就可以防止患上这种癌症。”