原文链接：http://the-scientist.com/2011/09/21/opinion-animals-with-human-material/

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Opinion: Animals with Human Material

看法：有人类遗传物质的动物模型

Careful oversight is required to ensure that chimeras and transgenic animals continue to serve as powerful biomedical research tools.

为了确保嵌合体和转基因动物能够继续作为一种强大的生物医学研究工具，我们必须对其进行仔细的监视。

By Martin Bobrow | September 21, 2011

Mouse: Wikimedia Commons, Rama, DNA: istockphoto.com

Research involving the integration of human DNA, cells, or tissues into animals has been undertaken since the 1960s. Transgenic animals (with one or more human genes in their makeup) and chimeras (with some human cells or tissues amongst their own animal tissues) are now important biomedical research approaches. They are used in studies where it is morally or practically impossible to conduct the experiments in humans, and where alternative approaches, such as computer simulations or cell cultures, are not adequately representative of the system being studied. Such approaches are used to determine the function of human genes by expressing the relevant DNA segment in an animal and observing its effect, or to test, develop, and produce therapies for disease, among other applications.

将人的DNA,细胞，组织整合到动物体内的研究始于19世纪60年代。转基因动物（在它们的组织中含有一个或更多的人类的基因）以及嵌合子(在它们的组织中含有一些人类细胞或者组织)是如今一种重要的生物医学的研究方法。这些研究方法被用于那些在道德伦理上或者是在实际中不可能用于人类的研究中，例如计算机拟态或者细胞培养，它们不能充分地代表正在被研究的系统。它们也可以用作为一种可供选择的研究方法。研究者运用这些研究方法，通过在动物体内表达相关的DNA片段并且观察其作用，来确定人类基因的功能，或者运用这些研究方法检测，改进，创造一些治疗方法，, 以及众多其他应用。

Chimeric mice, for example, are used to study human liver diseases such as hepatitis, and to test antiviral drugs. The mice are made by introducing human hepatocytes into the animals’ livers, which can be comprised of up to 95 percent human cells and so are a more accurate model of human liver function than a normal mouse liver. Similarly, mice with “humanised” immune systems are being used to make antibody treatments for human cancer.

例如嵌合子小鼠可以用来研究人类肝脏疾病如肝炎和测试抗病毒药物。通过将人类的肝细胞导入其肝脏产生了这些嵌合子小鼠，这种嵌合子老鼠可含有高达95%的人类细胞，因此，这种嵌合子老鼠较普通老鼠而言是一种更加精准的人类肝脏功能模型。同样地，拥有人类化的免疫系统的老鼠可以用来制备治疗人类癌症的抗体。

Non-rodent species are also used. Transgenic goats carrying a human gene, for example, are used to produce a human protein now licensed for use during surgery in patients whose blood otherwise fails to clot correctly. Although these animals have some specific human chemicals and cellular functions, they usually do not outwardly resemble humans in any way—the mice still look like ordinary mice; and the goats, to the naked eye, are goats. Many thousands of such “animals containing human material” have been created without major regulatory or ethical concern.

非啮齿动物同样也被应用。例如，现已批准携带人类基因的转基因山羊生产一种人类的蛋白质，用于治疗手术中凝血异常的患者。尽管这些动物有一些特殊的人类的化学物质和细胞的功能，但是它们通常不再外表上表达任何与人类相似的地方——老鼠看上去依旧是普通的老鼠；山羊仍然是山羊。众多这些带有人类物质的动物被创造出来，而缺乏管控和伦理上的考虑。

Despite this history, research using such animals has received very little public recognition—or even discussion. Instead, film-makers and novelists have found it an easy subject to dramatize and distort, and have portrayed scientists undertaking seemingly bizarre enterprises to create part-human, part-animal beings. (Some even go so far as to endow apes with enough human capabilities to take over the planet.)

尽管存在这样的历史，使用这些动物的研究极少受到公众的认可——即便是讨论。然而，电影制片人和小说家却发现它是一个很容易戏剧化和曲解的话题，并且让科学家担任一个看上去很稀奇古怪并且带有挑战性的角色来创造半人半动物的生物出来。（有些电影制片人和小说家甚至赋予猿猴足够的人类的能力来统治这个星球）

To encourage a more informed debate, the UK’s Academy of Medical Sciences recently organized an expert working group study, which I chaired. Our aim was  to consider the research use of animals containing human material from scientific, ethical, social, and safety perspectives, and to make recommendations for the future regulation of this research. We addressed difficult questions (such as the extent to which human cells might be substituted into rodent or primate brains, to study therapies for conditions such as stroke) and considered where the line should be drawn to best fulfill ethical, social, and scientific interests, and how effective regulation might be achieved.

为了鼓励一个更有学识的讨论，英国医学科学院最近组织一个由我主持的专家工作小组。我们的目的是从科学，伦理和安全性的角度考虑使用含有人类物质的动物的研究，并为以后监管这些研究提些建议。我们处理困难的问题（例如人的细胞能够在多大程度上替代啮齿动物

和灵长类的大脑的限度问题并且研究一些疾病的治理方法如中风）并考虑在如何起草指导方针，使它最好的满足伦理，社会，以及科学的需要。

An important aspect of our work was to understand which areas of this research might evoke public concern in the United Kingdom, over and above any concerns some people might have generally about the use of animals in medical research. Our public dialogue, involving participants from across the country, and other evidence highlighted three areas that warranted particularly careful consideration: the substitution of an animal’s brain cells with human cells to a degree which might lead to human-like cognitive capacity in the animal; research involving human–derived reproductive cells in an animal, especially where there is a possibility of fertilization; and the creation of animals that resemble humans in important aspects of their outward appearance or behavior.

我们工作的一个重要方面是弄清楚这类研究在哪方面可能会引起英国公众的担忧，除了某些人对医学研究中使用动物的任何一种担忧。包含全国各地的参与者的公共对话以及其他的证据强调我们需要特别考虑的3个方面：1.用人的细胞来代替动物的脑细胞会达到这样一种程度：即可能是动物拥有类似于人类的认知人力；2. 涉及到人源性生殖细胞，尤其是可能用于受精的一些研究；3可能创造出在外表上或者是在行为上某些重要方面与人类相像的动物的一些研究

We recommended that these areas of research should be subject to careful oversight by a national expert advisory body. Scientific techniques are advancing rapidly, and will undoubtedly bring new means of developing animals which are, in specific aspects, ever more similar to our species. This will increasingly help us to learn more about human and animal biology, as well as to develop new diagnostics and treatments. We also concluded that a small number of experiments should not for now be undertaken, at least until there is greater understanding of their likely outcomes. Potentially controversial science precedes best in an open environment, and to make the most of this research, we need to avoid the public distrust that can result from surprise at unexpected scientific developments. An informed and supportive public voice can also act as a mediator to counter the influence wielded by vocal minorities opposed to all animal research.

我们建议在上述领域的研究必须被国家专家咨询组织严密的监管。科学技术日新月异，它无疑将提供新的物种方面或者更加像我们的物种方面探索发展的方法。这将帮助我们更好的认识人类自己和动物，同样也能发展出新的疾病的诊断和治疗方法。我们同样提出那些很少的实验项目不应该在现在开展，至少要等到我们确切的弄明白可能的后果是什么。在公开场合讨论科学可是我们获得最大的潜在收益，对研究最有益。我们需要杜绝公众不相信它可易在一个意想不到的科学领域获得一个惊喜的现象。一个了解和支持的声音同样也可以扮演一个调解人来还击少数人反对所有动物实验的批评。

Our recommendations were intended primarily for the UK research system, but science is an international endeavor, and we hope that our report will encourage other countries to consider these issues, and catalyze the development of international standards and guidelines. We hope that by beginning this debate openly now, future decisions about research using animals containing human material can be made by experts who are fully informed both by scientific possibility and by public opinion. Both must be grounded in scientific fact, not science fiction.

我们的意见主要针对英国的研究领域，但是科学的发展需要全世界共同努力，我们希望我们的报告可以鼓励更多的国家来考虑这个问题，促进相关国际标准和指导线的订制。我们呢希望通过现在我们公开进行讨论，未来的研究要使用含有人类物质的动物的决定可以让熟知了相关科学可能性和公众意见的专家作出。所有的这些都必须基于科学，而不是小说。

For more information or to downloads the report visit http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/p47prid77.html.

Professor Martin Bobrow is an Emeritus professor of medical genetics at the University of Cambridge and chair of the Academy of Medical Sciences Working group on “Animals containing human material.”