2022-05-23 Detecting aggressive prostate cancer 尿液细菌或是恶性前列腺肿瘤先兆

科学家表示，他们已经确定了尿液细菌与恶性前列腺肿瘤之间的关联。专家希望，这一研究成果可能为发现甚至预防危险的前列腺肿瘤提供新的方法。

Bacterial infection is known to play a part in the development of some other cancers in the body, such as the stomach and bowel. And now researchers believe they have proof that the same could be true for the prostate.

人们已知细菌感染对体内一些癌症的发展有影响，如胃癌和肠癌。现在，研究人员认为，他们有证据证明，对前列腺来说亦是如此。

The University of East Anglia team studied more than 600 patients with and without prostate cancer, to check if bugs in urine might be associated with the disease.

英国东安格利亚大学的研究小组对600多位患有及未患前列腺癌的人的尿液进行了研究，以检查其中的细菌是否可能与前列腺癌有关。

They found five bacteria that were linked to aggressive prostate cancer cases. This could be useful clinically since current checks, such as PSA blood tests and biopsies, can’t always predict which cancers are dangerous.

他们发现了五种与恶性前列腺肿瘤病例有关的细菌。这对临床诊断可能很有帮助，因为目前的检查，如前列腺特异抗原血液检查和活检，并不总能预测哪些癌性肿瘤是恶性的。

Prostate cancers are not always life-threatening. Some grow too slowly to ever cause any problems. The challenge is diagnosing and quickly treating the risky ones.

前列腺癌并不一定危及生命。其中有些肿瘤生长得很慢，绝对不会引起任何问题。目前面临的挑战是如何诊断并快速治疗前列腺恶性肿瘤。

词汇表

bacterial infection 细菌感染
prostate 前列腺
bugs 细菌
urine 尿液
clinically 临床诊断地
biopsies 活体组织检查，活检
life-threatening 危及生命的
diagnosing 诊断

阅读理解：请在读完上文后，回答下列问题。

1. What is now thought to be partly responsible for the development of prostate cancer?

2. What did the research team look at in this study?

3. How might this research improve on the current checks for prostate cancer?

4. True or false? Some prostate cancers grow too slowly to ever cause any problems.

答案 

1. What is now thought to be partly responsible for the development of prostate cancer?
Researchers now believe bacterial infection is known to play a part in the development of prostate cancer.

2. What did the research team look at in this study?
The University of East Anglia team studied more than 600 patients with and without prostate cancer, to check if bugs in urine might be associated with the disease.

3. How might this research improve on the current checks for prostate cancer?
Current checks can’t always predict which cancers are dangerous but this new research identified five bacteria that were linked to aggressive prostate cancer cases.

4. True or false? Some prostate cancers grow too slowly to ever cause any problems.
True. Prostate cancers are not always life-threatening. Some grow too slowly to ever cause any problems.