幹細胞有望無限造血，再也不需要獻血了？

日前美國科學家宣佈成功生產出造血幹細胞，未來有望利用人體細胞無限造血，可能不再需要獻血者了。

Blood donors may no longer be needed in the future after scientists showed it was possible to create blood from stem cells.
科學家們表明幹細胞有望用於造血，未來可能不再需要獻血者。

The 20 year project could pave the way for an unlimited number of blood and immune cells for transplants, simply by reprogramming a patient’s own skin cells.
這項研究持續了20年，爲將來只需改造患者自身的皮膚細胞就可以獲得移植手術所需的無限量血液和免疫細胞做好了準備。

The research, reported in the journal Nature, holds out enormous promise for developing personalised treatments for blood disorders, drug-screening and reducing shortages of donated blood.
該研究發表於《自然》期刊，在爲血液疾病提供個性化治療、藥物篩選和緩解捐獻血液短缺等方面具有重要意義。

Dr Ryohichi Sugimura, of Boston Children's Hospital, said: "This gives us the potential to have a limitless supply of blood stem cells and blood by taking cells from universal donors. This could potentially augment the blood supply for patients who need transfusions.
波士頓兒童醫院的杉樹遼一博士表示：“這爲我們從萬能供血者身上獲取細胞來提供無限造血幹細胞和血液提供了可能，有望進一步滿足患者的輸血要求。

“This step opens up an opportunity to take cells from patients with genetic blood disorders, use gene editing to correct their genetic defect and make functional blood cells.”
“這項進展爲我們提供了機會，可以從遺傳性血液病患者身上獲取細胞，然後使用基因編輯技術來糾正遺傳缺陷併產生功能性血細胞。”

For patients receiving treatment for cancer, blood disorders, after accidents or during surgery, or new mums who lose blood in childbirth, blood is an absolutely essential part of healthcare.
對於接受癌症治療、血液疾病治療、意外事故創傷治療、接受手術的患者，或分娩時失血的母親，血液在醫療服務中絕對是必不可少的部分。

But NHS Blood and Transplant - the service which collects, tests and processes blood for hospitals across England -says that while hospitals have the blood needed to treat patients there is a need for more new donors.
但英國國家醫療服務體系血液和移植部表示，即使醫院擁有治療患者所需的血液，仍需要更多的獻血者。該部門爲全英國的醫院提供收集、測試和處理血液的服務。

In England the number of people becoming donors and giving blood for the first time dropped 24.4 percent in 2015 compared to 2005.
與2005年相比，英國2015年首次獻血的人數下降了24.4%。

Since human embryonic stem cells were isolated in 1998, scientists have been trying with little success to use them to make blood-forming stem cells.
自1998年成功分離人類胚胎幹細胞後，科學家一直在嘗試使用它們來生成造血幹細胞，但進展一直不大。

In the new research, the Boston team started with embryonic stem cells and exposed them to a chemical soup which triggered their transformation into a tissue which eventually makes blood stem cells.
在這項新研究中，波士頓團隊首先使用胚胎幹細胞，並將其暴露於化學試劑中，從而將其轉化爲最終能夠產生血液幹細胞的組織。

When the tissue was transplanted in mice, new blood cells were created in the animals.
將該組織移植到小鼠體內後，小鼠體內產生了新的血細胞。

"This work is the culmination of over 20 years of striving,” said Dr George Daley, who heads a research lab in Boston Children's Hospital's Stem Cell Program and is dean of Harvard Medical School.
波士頓兒童醫院幹細胞計劃的研究實驗室負責人喬治•達利博士說：“這項工作是二十多年努力成果的凝縮。”喬治•達利博士還是哈佛醫學院的院長。

"We're tantalizingly close to generating bona fide human blood stem cells in a dish."
“離在實驗室中製造出真正人類血液幹細胞的目標越來越近，我們感到既心急又激動。”

Another team also writing in Nature succeeded in making blood cells using a different technique.
另一個在《自然》期刊中發表論文的研究團隊使用另一種方法成功製造出血細胞。

The scientists, led by Dr Shahin Rafii, from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, converted cells lining blood vessels into immature blood stem cells, which then finished developing after being transplanted onto a layer of umbilical cord tissue.
由紐約市威爾康奈爾醫學院的沙欣•拉非博士領導的科學家團隊將血管內膜細胞轉化爲未成熟的血液幹細胞，然後將其移植到臍帶組織層上完成發育過程。