So it was about four years ago, five years ago, I was sitting on a stage in Philadelphia, I think it was, with a bag similar to this. And I was pulling a molecule out of this bag. And I was saying, you don't know this molecule really well, but your body knows it extremely well. And I was thinking that your body hated it, at the time, because we are very immune to this. This is called alpha-gal epitope. And the fact that pig heart valves have lots of these on them is the reason that you can't transplant a pig heart valve into a person easily.
那大約是四、五年前, 我當時在費城,坐在一個講台上,應該沒記錯, 我帶著一個與此相似的袋子。 我從袋子裡拿出一個分子模型。 我說,你們跟這個分子不太熟, 但是你們的身體跟它可熟了。 我當時以為,人體討厭這個分子, 因為我們對這東西是免疫的,這分子叫 α-Gal 免疫決定位。 豬的心臟瓣膜上有很多這種分子, 那是為什麼我們沒辦法簡簡單單移植豬的心瓣膜到人體上。
Actually our body doesn't hate these. Our body loves these. It eats them. I mean, the cells in our immune system are always hungry. And if an antibody is stuck to one of these things on the cell, it means "that's food." Now, I was thinking about that and I said, you know, we've got this immune response to this ridiculous molecule that we don't make, and we see it a lot in other animals and stuff. But I said we can't get rid of it, because all the people who tried to transplant heart valves found out you can't get rid of that immunity.
事實上,我們的身體並不討厭這些分子, 其實我們的身體愛死它們了,我們的身體吃它們。 我是說,我們的免疫系統永遠處於飢渴的狀態。 當一個抗體卡上某個細胞上的這種分子, 就等於宣布:「這是食物。」 我當時在想,我們的身體對這個 怪異的分子有免疫反應, 人體不製造這個分子,而我們在其他動物或物種上常能看到這種分子。 我當時說,我們沒辦法清除這個東西, 因為所有研究心臟瓣膜移植手術的人, 發現我們對這個免疫反應束手無策。
And I said, why don't you use that? What if I could stick this molecule, slap it onto a bacteria that was pathogenic to me, that had just invaded my lungs? I mean I could immediately tap into an immune response that was already there, where it was not going to take five or six days to develop it -- it was going to immediately attack whatever this thing was on. It was kind of like the same thing that happens when you, like when you're getting stopped for a traffic ticket in L.A., and the cop drops a bag of marijuana in the back of your car, and then charges you for possession of marijuana. It's like this very fast, very efficient way to get people off the street.
所以我說,為什麼我們不利用這個? 如果我們可以把這個分子 黏到細菌的表面, 黏到那才剛入侵我的肺臟的病菌上? 我是指,我們可以立即利用 人體內原本就有的免疫反應。 不用等五或六天去等待免疫反應產生, 我們的免疫系統馬上會去攻擊這個分子所黏上的任何病菌。 這就有點類似,當你... 就像當你在洛杉磯街頭因為交通違規被警察攔下來, 而警察卻栽贓了一包大麻在你的車上, 然後以非法持有大麻的罪名逮捕你。 這可是非常快速、高效率的方式讓一個人從街頭消失。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So you can take a bacteria that really doesn't make these things at all, and if you could clamp these on it really well you have it taken off the street. And for certain bacteria we don't have really efficient ways to do that anymore. Our antibiotics are running out. And, I mean, the world apparently is running out too. So probably it doesn't matter 50 years from now -- streptococcus and stuff like that will be rampant -- because we won't be here. But if we are -- (Laughter) we're going to need something to do with the bacteria.
所以我們可以挑一種細菌, 不製造這種分子的細菌, 然後如果你可以把這分子牢牢卡上那細菌, 這細菌很快就被驅除了。 有些特定的細菌種類, 我們已經沒有真正有效的療法可對付了。 我們的抗生素已經快全數失效了。 我是說,全世界的抗生素都快失效了。 所以五十年後會發生什麼?大概都無關緊要了。 鏈球菌或是其他糟糕的東西會橫行無阻, 因為人類已經都不存在了。但如果我們還在... (笑聲) 我們還是需要一些對策以應付這些細菌。
So I started working with this thing, with a bunch of collaborators. And trying to attach this to things that were themselves attached to certain specific target zones, bacteria that we don't like. And I feel now like George Bush. It's like "mission accomplished." So I might be doing something dumb, just like he was doing at the time. But basically what I was talking about there we've now gotten to work. And it's killing bacteria. It's eating them.
所以我已經著手進行研究, 和一群人共同合作。 試著把這分子黏附在 一些東西的特定區域上, 例如我們不喜歡的害菌。 我覺得我好像小布希, 誇口著「任務達成」 所以我可能會做些蠢事,就像小布希當時盡做些蠢事一樣。 但基本上我剛剛所談的,現在已經可行了, 這方法已經對細菌大開殺戒,對細菌大吃特吃。
This thing can be stuck, like that little green triangle up there, sort of symbolizing this right now. You can stick this to something called a DNA aptamer. And that DNA aptamer will attach specifically to a target that you have selected for it. So you can find a little feature on a bacterium that you don't like, like Staphylococcus -- I don't like it in particular, because it killed a professor friend of mine last year. It doesn't respond to antibiotics. So I don't like it. And I'm making an aptamer that will have this attached to it. That will know how to find Staph when it's in your body, and will alert your immune system to go after it.
這分子可以跟核酸適體結合, 就像是上面那個綠色三角形所代表的。 你可以把這個分子跟這核酸適體組合起來。 而這核酸適體會 跟你所指定的目標結合。 所以你可以在你不喜歡的細菌上找一個特定部位, 像金黃色葡萄球菌,我特別討厭它, 因為我的一個教授朋友去年就是感染葡萄球菌而死的。 沒有任何抗生素對它有效,所以我討厭它。 因此我正在合成一種針對葡萄球菌的核酸適體, 它們會追蹤你體內的葡萄球菌, 然後告訴你的免疫系統去追殺這些細菌。
Here's what happened. See that line on the very top with the little dots? That's a bunch of mice that had been poisoned by our scientist friends down in Texas, at Brooks Air Base, with anthrax. And they had also been treated with a drug that we made that would attack anthrax in particular, and direct your immune system to it. You'll notice they all lived, the ones on the top line -- that's a 100 percent survival rate. And they actually lived another 14 days, or 28 when we finally killed them, and took them apart and figured out what went wrong. Why did they not die? And they didn't die because they didn't have anthrax anymore. So we did it. Okay?
這是我們實驗的結果,看到圖表最上方 的那條帶著點點的線了嗎? 那代表了一群在德州實驗室 被我們在布魯克司空軍基地的科學家朋友 下了炭疽菌的老鼠。 同時我們用我們做的新藥治療牠們, 新藥會對炭疽菌發動攻擊, 而且叫你的免疫系統去對付炭疽菌。 從圖表最上方那條線,你會發現這些老鼠全活下來了。 那條線代表了百分之百的存活率。 這些老鼠實際上又繼續活了 14 或是 28 天, 一直到我們總算宰了牠們, 解剖牠們、分析到底發生了什麼事。 為什麼牠們沒死? 牠們沒死,因為牠們體內炭疽菌都死光了。 所以,我們成功了,對吧?
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Mission accomplished!
任務圓滿達成!
(Applause)
(掌聲)