The genetic code of two of the most deadly cancers has been cracked by British scientists in a world first that opens up a whole new era in the treatment for the disease. 英国科学家日前破译了两种最致命癌症的遗传密码，由此开辟了治疗癌症的全新时代。 All the mutations that turn healthy cells cancerous in both lung and skin tumours have been identified in what researchers described as a"transforming moment" in the search for preventions, treatments and cures for both terminal illnesses. 科研人员日前已破解肺部和皮肤肿瘤中致健康细胞发生癌变的所有基因突变，并将该研究成果称为寻求预防、治疗及治愈肺癌和皮肤癌两种绝症的“转变时刻”。 Eventually a simple blood test will lead to accurate "made to measure" treatments that can identify, attack and kill the causes of each patient's own individual cancer, they claim. 研究人员还表示，最终，一个简单的血检便可对患者进行“量身定制”的治疗，这种治疗能精确地识别、攻击并杀灭每位患者各自的致癌诱因。
All cancers are caused by damage or mutations to the DNA of formerly healthy cells acquired during a person's lifetime. 所有的癌症都是由于人一生中健康细胞的DNA受到破坏或发生突变而引起的。 This damage causes them to grow into abnormal lumps or tumours and spread around the body disrupting its normal processes and eventually--if unchecked--causing death. 这些破坏使健康细胞长成异常的肿块或肿瘤，扩散至全身，扰乱正常的生理过程，如不加以遏止，最终将导致死亡。 In lung cancer the damage is almost entirely caused by smoking and in skin cancer or malignant melanoma by ultra violent sunlight. 引发肺癌的这种破坏几乎全因吸烟引起，而皮肤癌或恶性黑素瘤则是由阳光中的紫外线照射所致。 The Sanger Institute studies used powerful new DNA sequencing technologies to decode completely the genome of both tumour tissue and normal tissue from a lung cancer and a malignant melanoma patient. 桑格研究所开展的这项研究从一名肺癌患者和一名皮肤癌患者身上分别提取肿瘤细胞组织和正常细胞组织，运用新型高效的DNA测序技术对其基因组进行了全面破解。 They then compared and contrasted the two to discover the differences and see what damage has occurred to cause the disease. 随后，研究人员对两者进行了比较和对比，以期发现其中的差别，进而了解是何种破坏的出现引发了癌症。 The lung cancer genome, which kills 34,500 people a year, contained more than 23,000 mutations, the melanoma, which kills 2,000 people a year, more than 33,000. 每年致3.45万人死亡的肺癌，其基因组包含2.3万个突变；而每年致2000人死亡的皮肤癌，其基因组包含3.3万个突变。
Most of these mutations are known as "passengers" and cause damage but not cancer. However a small number are called "drivers" and these lead to the disease. 这些突变基因中的大部分被认为是“乘客”，它们虽会造成破坏，却并不直接致癌。但也有少量的突变基因被称为“司机”，正是它们导致了癌症的发生。 By sequencing many more cancer patients over the next few years, the researchers hope to distil down the mix until they have a handful of targets to hit with treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 研究人员在未来几年将对更多癌症患者进行基因组测序，以期对这两类突变进行过滤筛选，直至找到少量目标，以便用化疗、放疗等方式予以杀灭。 It is eventually believed that a simple blood test will mean every patient will be given their own cancer chart so their treatment can be tailor made. 人们相信，最终，每个癌症患者通过一个简单的血检就可获得其本人的癌变图谱，因而其治疗也会量身定制。 Already the lung cancer genome is yielding useful information. As the average victim has smoked 18,000 packets of cigarettes, the researchers have concluded that a mutation is caused roughly every 15 cigarettes. 对肺癌基因组的研究已获得了某种有用的信息。由于肺癌患者平均吸烟1.8万包，研究人员据以得出结论称，大约每15根香烟就会引发一个基因突变。
The research, published in the journal Nature, was hailed as groundbreaking by fellow researchers. 这份发表在《自然》杂志上的研究成果被其他同领域研究者赞誉为具有突破性意义。 Professor Carlos Caldas, a cancer expert from Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute, said: "This is groundbreaking research." 英国癌症研究院剑桥研究所的癌症研究专家卡洛斯·卡尔达斯称：“这是一项突破性的研究。” "By repeating and refining this technique with other forms of cancer, and comparing the results to data from the Human Genome Project, the hope and excitement for the future is that we'll eventually have a detailed picture of how different cancers develop, and ultimately how better to treat and prevent them." “通过反复使用并不断改良这一技术来研究其他类型的癌症，之后将研究结果与‘人类基因组计划’的数据进行比较，令人兴奋的是，未来我们有望最终获得一份详尽的基因图谱，展示各种癌症的发生过程，并了解如何更好地治疗及预防癌症。” Dr Elizabeth Rapley, of The Institute of Cancer Research, added: "These are exciting studies that show us a great deal about how cancer is triggered and driven by mutations in DNA. " 癌症研究院的伊丽莎白·拉普利博士补充道：“这是一项激动人心的研究。它为我们提供了大量信息，揭示了DNA的突变是如何引发及推动癌症产生的。” "This is the first time that a complete cancer genome has been sequenced and similar insights into other cancer genomes are likely to follow." “这是人类首次完成一种癌症全基因组的排序，对其他癌症基因组的类似研究成果可能也将随后出炉。” "As more cancer genomes are revealed by this technique, we will gain a greater understanding of how cancer is caused and develops, improving our ability to prevent, treat and cure cancer." “随着该技术破解更多的癌症基因，我们将极大地增强对癌症成因及其演变的认识，继而提高预防、治疗及治愈癌症的能力。”
