中國科學家成功將3D打印血管植入動物體內

Chinese scientists have successfully implanted 3D printed blood vessels made from stem cells into rhesus Monkeys, marking an important step towards printing blood vessels and other organs for human transplants.

中國科學家已成功將3D打印血管植入恆河猴體內，這標誌着在打印血管及其他器官用於人類移植方面邁出了重要的一步。

“It is groundbreaking work that will change the way regenerative medicine will develop,” said Sir Alfred Cuschieri, a professor at Dundee university, who has visited the scientific team from biotech group Sichuan Revotek several times and hopes to bring it into international partnerships. “They are well ahead of the west.”

鄧迪大學(Dundee University)的教授阿爾弗雷德.庫斯基耶裏爵士(Sir Alfred Cuschieri)表示：“這一開創性研究將改變再生醫學的發展之路。”庫斯基耶裏爵士曾多次訪問四川藍光英諾生物科技公司(Revotek)的科研團隊，希望結成國際合作夥伴關係。“他們比西方領先很多。”

Scientists around the world are racing to construct biosynthetic organs that could begin to make up for the shortage of organs from human donors. One technique is to lay down living cells through a miniaturised 3D printer. Russian biotechnology group 3D Bioprinting Solutions recently reported that it had successfully transplanted a 3D-printed thyroid gland into a mouse.

世界各地的科學家都在爭相構建生物合成器官，它可以彌補人類捐獻器官的短缺。一種技術是用小型3D打印機構建活細胞。最近有報道稱俄羅斯生物科技集團3D Bioprinting Solutions已成功將3D打印甲狀腺植入一隻老鼠體內。

Revotek, based in the southwestern province of Sichuan, used a 3D printer filled with ‘ink’ made from stem cells — building blocks that can become any cell in the body — to print prototype blood vessels about 2cm long. These were then implanted into the chests of 30 rhesus monkeys.

位於中國西南省份四川的藍光英諾用裝滿幹細胞“墨汁”——幹細胞可以分化爲機體的任何一種細胞——的3D打印機打印出約2釐米長的血管樣本，然後將這些血管植入30只恆河猴的胸腔中。

One month after implantation, the stem cells in the artificial vessels had grown into the different kinds of cells that make up natural blood vessels, and over time they became “indistinguishable” from the monkeys’ original vessels, according to Revotek.

據藍光英諾介紹，植入一個月後，人工血管中的幹細胞生長成天然血管所需的多種細胞，隨着時間推移，這些細胞與恆河猴的原生血管已變得“不可區分”。

James Kang, lead scientist on the Revotek project who began working on stem cells in the US in the 1990s, said the research could benefit the 156m people every year worldwide who need artificial blood vessels or vessel support structures.

藍光英諾該項目首席科學家康裕建(James Kang)表示，全球每年有1.56億人需要人工血管或血管支持結構，這項研究能爲他們帶來福音。康裕建上世紀90年代開始在美國從事幹細胞研究。

Helen Meese, head of healthcare at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London, said Revotek’s work was a “very exciting result for the global biotech community”. She added: “Most of the research so far has been small-scale testing in laboratories. Scaling up is the next big challenge, and this is a big step in that direction.”

倫敦機械工程師協會(Institution of Mechanical Engineers)醫療保健主管海倫.米斯(Helen Meese)表示藍光英諾的研究“對於全球生物科技界是一項令人振奮的成果”。她同時表示：“迄今爲止的大部分研究都是在實驗室進行的小規模測試。下一個重大挑戰是擴大規模，而他們的研究是朝着這一方向邁出的一大步。”

Donald Thomason, executive director of the Molecular Resource Center at the University of Tennessee, said when Revotek presented its results: “Although the 3D printing of biological materials is developing around the world, this project’s result . . . is the most mature I’ve seen.

田納西大學(University of Tennessee)分子資源中心(Molecular Resource Center)執行理事唐納德.托馬森(Donald Thomason)在藍光英諾發表成果時表示：“雖然世界各地都在發展生物材料3D打印，但這個項目的成果……是我見過最成熟的。”

“The costs of some transplants are very high . . . but using stem cells harvested from the same body, in the long term, the costs should be much lower.”

“有些移植成本非常高……但用自體取出的幹細胞，從長遠來看，成本應該會低很多。”

Ms Meese said the results needed to be published and the procedure replicated by labs elsewhere. She estimated that it would take 20 years or more before more complex 3D-printed organs such as hearts or kidneys were transplanted into human patients.

米斯表示該成果有待發布，實驗步驟也要在其他實驗室重複進行。她估計至少要20年時間才能將心臟或腎臟等更復雜的3D打印器官移植到人類病患體內。

Revotek now plans to run a second trial with a larger sample of monkeys.

藍光英諾現在計劃用更多猴子樣本進行第二次試驗。